CIO Says 'Bold' Changes Coming to War Department IT Efforts, 2025 Award Recipients to Play Role

The War Department’s chief information officer, Kirsten Davies, today recognized more than a dozen individuals and teams for delivering information technology capabilities and management practices that advanced warfighter lethality, readiness and network efficiency during the 2025 War Department CIO annual awards ceremony at the Pentagon. 

This year marked the 25th iteration of the awards. 

“It’s important today and every day that we recognize all of the efforts that are happening across our technology and cybersecurity ecosystem at the department,” she said. “This is a time of significant change for the department, and it’s only going to be successful if we have innovative individuals and teams like you to drive transformation.”

Two months into the job as the DOW CIO, Davies said President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have given her a mandate to take bold action with the department’s IT and cyber portfolio. The ongoing work of this year’s award winners will be an important part of how that bold action is implemented across the department.

“[We have] the potential to truly transform the way the department operates and provides capability straight to our warfighters,” she said. “Our challenge is to deliver capabilities to the warfighter that have operational impact but are also secure and delivered at speed and scale; not a small task. The secretary has accepted acquisition risk today to decisively reduce operational risk tomorrow. And we’re going to follow [in the] footsteps there.”

Davies noted that this year’s awards program covered four broad areas: cybersecurity; the information enterprise — including cloud modernization, network, transport and software; command, control and communications; and a broader area that includes, among other things, financial and management audits, a cyber budget and electronic records management.

As part of the ceremony, both teams and individuals were either named recipients of awards or given honorable mentions. Those honored include:

Individual Gold Winners

• Air Force 1st Lt. Diego Castanon 
• Marine Corps Sgt. William Smail, U.S. Special Operations Command 
• Air Force Maj. Jean-Luc Duckworth, Defense Contract Management Agency 

Individual Silver Winners

• Air Force Master Sgt. Kenneth Bricker 
• Aaron Ford, Army 

Individual Bronze Winners

• Air Force Capt. James Lockatell 
• Richard Edwards, Defense Health Agency 
• Navy Cmdr. Matthew Manship, Joint Chiefs of Staff 
• Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Joshua Small, U.S. Special Operations Command 

Team Gold Winners

• Europe Infrastructure Services Team, Defense Information Systems Agency 
• Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record Program Management Office Team, Defense Health Agency 
• National Nuclear Security Administration Assured Communications Team, Energy Department 
• Black Ansible Team, Office of the Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering/Navy 
• Enterprise Business Systems Convergence Capability Requirements Team, Army 

Team Silver Winners

• BLANKTELEGRAM Team, National Security Agency 
• DCI Information Command, Control Communications and Computers Networks Team, Marine Corps 
• Information Command Active Defense Campaign Team, Marine Corps 
• J6 Spectrum Branch Team, Joint Chiefs of Staff 
• Digital Advantage Division SQAD Team, Space Force/Air Force 
• Zero Trust Tactical Team, Navy 

Team Bronze Winners

• 607th Air Communications Squadron Team, Air Force 
• Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System Cybersecurity Inspection Program Team, Defense Intelligence Agency 
• Customs and Border Protection, Office of Information and Technology, Team Awareness Kit Team, Department of Homeland Security 
• 0648 Spectrum Manager Military Occupation Specialty Mod Team, Marine Corps 
• MyAuth Team, Defense Manpower Data Center 

After recognizing the winners, Davies thanked both the winners and those who recognized their contributions.

“Let me thank the leaders who nominated you, as well as each of you here, as individuals and as team members,” Davies said. “I speak on behalf of the secretary when I say, thank you for all the hard work you are doing every day. You’re seen, you’re appreciated and your work matters to our warfighters.”