Army CIO/G-6 Retires

While the Army has identified lashing together its disparate communications network as its top modernization priority, it has lost one of the top generals charged with making it happen.

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, the service's chief information officer, retired Nov. 5 after more than three years as the Army CIO/G-6 and 37-plus years with the Army, according to a statement from his office.

Sorenson helped develop the architecture for the Army's Land Warfare Network -- the service's component of the Defense Department's Global Information Grid. “We have come a long way to reshape the network enterprise strategy,” he was quoted saying in an Army statement. “And I believe the CIO/G-6 is on the cusp of delivering significant network capabilities to the warfighter through all our enterprise initiatives.”

Several months ago, Sorenson's office held the “Apps for the Army” contest in which civilian and service personnel competed to develop the best software applications. The competition drew 140 entrants and Sorenson said the effort would go a long way toward defining the business processes by which the Army would develop and certify future software Army enterprise programs.

More recently, Sorenson's office announced the formation of the Army's Common Operating Environment Architecture, which was established to bring the service's stovepiped network under one set of requirements.

Sorenson's retirement ceremony was presided over by Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli and attended by more than 400 people, according to the statement.

Until a new CIO/G-6 is announced, Mike Krieger, Sorenson's former deputy, will serve as the acting CIO/G-6. Maj. Gen. Mark Bowman is the acting deputy.