Navy intranet chief says officials are targeting key problems

The outgoing leader of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet project said Tuesday that his department is focused on solving high-priority problems that occur within the massive new network.

In June, Navy Secretary Gordon England announced that Rear Adm. Charles Munns would leave NMCI to become the submarine force commander for the Atlantic Fleet. On Tuesday, Munns said the program has overcome some growing pains and is on track to succeed. He described NMCI as the "most rewarding" and "most challenging job" he has ever held in the service.

The intranet is being developed by Texas-based defense contractor EDS as a secure network connecting 700,000 military and civilian users. It could end up costing more than $8 billion.

During an NMCI conference in June, several top Navy and Marine Corps officials complained of slow delivery of network "seats" as well as sluggish and inconsistent intranet connections. Lt. Gen. Edward Hanlon, the commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, said NMCI is crucial to future military operations, but he described the current state of the network as "unacceptable." He said that poor connectivity was hampering his communication with personnel deployed to the Middle East.

According to NMCI customer surveys, almost 80 percent of users are satisfied with the new intranet. NMCI officials have defended those results against some user criticism. Munns acknowledged that there are still challenges to overcome in developing and rolling out the network, and he said the Navy is committed to moving customer satisfaction levels even higher.

When asked about concerns that a faulty network could hinder military operations, Munns said NMCI officials now are consulting with service leaders to identify, isolate and fix the most important problem areas. He said he had recently visited the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., to discuss Hanlon's concerns.

"We're asking him to help prioritize," Munns said.

Munns also offered a broad defense of the NMCI program and said he had complete faith in the results of customer satisfaction surveys conducted by EDS.

Looking back on his time at NMCI, Munns said the program now has a "rigor" and a visibility that was lacking.

"The biggest challenge, and I think we've overcome it, has been rigor of schedule," he said.

He also suggested -- as other NMCI officials have -- that many reported problems with the system are the result of Navy policy decisions, not technical deficiencies. The Navy has reduced the number of software applications from more than 65,000 on its legacy systems to about 7,000 within NMCI. Many network users are upset because the new intranet does not allow them to use programs which they believe are vital to their work.

"I would argue that is good for us as a corporation," Munns said. "We've [gotten] down to 7,000, but that is still too many."