NATO Communications and Information Agency

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is NATO's technology and cyber hub.

NATO Communications and Information Agency
IndustryDefence, Space and Technology
PredecessorNATO C3 Organization; NATO Communication and Information Systems Services Agency (NCSA); NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A); NATO Air Command and Control System Management Agency (NACMA); NATO Headquarters Information and Communication Technology Service (ICTM)
HeadquartersBrussels,
Belgium
Number of locations
Four main campuses: Brussels, Mons, The Hague, Oeiras, and over 30 locations
Key people
Kevin J. Scheid (General Manager)

The Agency provides C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, and Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance; refer to Command and control terminology) technology, including cyber and missile defence.

Organization

The NCI Agency, led by the General Manager, is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The Agency is the executive arm of the NATO Communication and Information Organisation (NCIO).

NCIO is managed by an Agency Supervisory Board (ASB) composed of representative from each NATO nation. The ASB oversees the work of the NCIO. After consulting with the NATO Secretary General, NCIO’s ASB appoints the General Manager of the Agency. All NATO nations are members of the NCIO.

The ASB, which reports to the North Atlantic Council (NAC), issues directives and makes general policy decisions to enable NCIO to carry out its work. Its decisions on fundamental issues such as policy, finance, organization and establishment require unanimous agreement by all member countries.[1]

Evolution

At the Lisbon Summit in November 2010, NATO Heads of State and Government agreed to reform the 14 existing NATO Agencies, located in seven member states. In particular, Allies agreed to streamline the agencies into three major programmatic themes: procurement, support, and communications and information. The reform aims to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of capabilities and services, to achieve greater synergy between similar functions and to increase transparency and accountability.

As part of the reform process, the NCI Agency was created on 1 July 2012 through the merger of the NATO C3 Organisation, NATO Communication and Information Systems Services Agency (NCSA), NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A), NATO Air Command and Control System Management Agency (NACMA), and NATO Headquarters Information and Communication Technology Service (ICTM).[2]

Management

The NCI Agency is led by the General Manager, Kevin J. Scheid. In November, 2016, Mr Scheid was elected by the 28 Nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to serve as General Manager, NATO Communications and Information Agency, effective 1 July 2017.[3]

Location

The NATO Communications and Information Agency's (NCI Agency) has 4 main campuses – Brussels and Mons, Belgium, The Hague in The Netherlands and Oeiras, Portugal. The NCI Agency has over 30 locations in Europe, North America and South-East Asia.[4]

The NCI Agency campus in The Hague

Services

The NCI Agency's area of expertise and key projects range from missile defense to secure desktops:[5]

  1. Command and Control services
    • Common Operational Picture tools for the land, maritime and air domains
    • Medical information and coordination system
  2. Education and Training
  3. Support to Exercises and Operations
  4. Operational analysis, defence planning
  5. Air and Missile Defence Command and Control
    • Air Command and Control System to conduct air policing and protect NATO European airspace
    • Ballistic Missile Defence
  6. NATO’s consultation and command networks
    • Core enterprise services for NATO entities and Nations
    • Federated Mission Networking for Forces
    • Modernization of NATO’s IT
  7. Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
    • Airborne IP chat capability for the AWACS aircraft
    • Secure satellite communications for Alliance Ground Surveillance
  8. iGeoSIT
  9. Cyber security services
    • NATO’s cyber shield
    • NATO Computer Incident Response Capability
    • NATO Industry Cyber Partnership
    • Rapid Reaction Team

Success at Locked Shields

NATO, led by the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency, won the world’s largest live-fire cyber exercise, Locked Shields 2018 for the third consecutive year. [6][7][8]

References
  1. "NATO Organization". Retrieved 26 Sep 2018.
  2. "NATO Organization: Organization and agencies". Retrieved 27 Sep 2018.
  3. "NCI Agency Website - Biography Kevin J Scheid" (PDF).
  4. "NCI Agency Website". Retrieved 26 Sep 2018.
  5. "NCI Agency: Our services".
  6. "NATO wins the world's largest live-fire cyber exercise". Retrieved 26 Sep 2018.
  7. "Why a NATO team defended a made-up country's infrastructure". Retrieved 26 Sep 2018.
  8. "NATO Won Cyber Defence Exercise Locked Shields 2018". Retrieved 26 Sep 2018.
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