Navy appoints new leader for NMCI

Navy Secretary Gordon England has appointed a new chief to lead the development of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, a program awash in controversy and delays.

Rear Adm. James Godwin will take the reins of NMCI, a huge, secure computer system designed to connect all Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Texas-based defense contractor EDS is developing the intranet, which could end up costing the Navy more than $8 billion by the time all users are connected. In June, England announced that Rear Adm. Charles Munns was leaving the program to become the submarine force commander for the Atlantic Fleet. Program officials believe he will leave NMCI in October. The Navy announced Godwin's appointment on Aug. 6.

In a June interview, Munns acknowledged that the program has had some troubles, but he told Government Executive that it has passed its "tipping point" and is improving rapidly. The program continues to be faced with criticism, from senior officers to mid-level civilian managers. Service personnel complain that NMCI has poor connectivity, slow delivery and an inability to handle all the functions performed by legacy technology.

NMCI officials insist that their customer satisfaction rate is close to 80 percent, but many users doubt the accuracy of that data. About 350,000 users are--or soon will be--connected to NMCI, making it the world's largest intranet.

Godwin comes to the program from the Tactical Aircraft Programs project in Patuxent River, Md., where he is the program executive officer. A 21-year veteran of the Navy, he has served almost exclusively as a pilot or in aircraft development.

Before joining Tactical Aircraft Programs in 2000, Godwin served as the F/A-18 program manager and oversaw the development of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. A veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, Godwin flew 34 missions during Operation Desert Storm.