Center Commander outlines mission, vision, '09 expectations

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gilmartin
  • 66 ABW Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Electronic Systems Center Commander Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds outlined his vision for Electronic Systems Center and provided a streamlined mission statement in a Dec. 12 email to the Center work force following a two-day off-site meeting with his key leadership team.

"During my first year, I've come to admire and respect the amazing things you all do despite new challenges that seem to materialize daily. While we still don't have perfect answers to everything we're confronting, we've made great headway in focusing on what is important to our Air Force and our Nation," he wrote.

His vision for the Center is "War-winning information systems... on time, on cost!" The Center's mission statement, significantly streamlined from the past, is to, "Empower the Warfighter to leverage information as an effective weapon--anywhere, anytime!"

"Both are brief and capture my focus clearly," he wrote. "The vision capitalizes on our acquisition abilities and how I want to be known to our users; and the mission makes it clear that information is ESC's weapon of choice - provided in a unified fashion by four acquisition wings, one support wing, and a center staff with the common goal of supporting our Warfighters."

The general also had a message for those ESC units which are geographically separated from the Hanscom headquarters.

"For those of you contributing from our dispersed units, you must know that I consider you absolutely essential to my vision and the Center's mission," he wrote. "You are fully incorporated into the operations of this acquisition center, and I value all that you bring to the fight from around the country. Thank you for enabling me to harness your incredible talents and incorporate them into all that ESC has become."

General Bowlds also shared his expectations for 2009. They are:

· I expect compliance. I expect a "back-to-basics and by-the-book" approach to ESC's common, core processes.

· Building upon compliance, I want you to lean those processes. I expect you to seek ways to accelerate, simplify, and reduce the cost of acquisition with no sacrifice of quality.

· I expect ESC to champion and embrace evolutionary and revolutionary information capabilities.

· I want ESC to execute a portion of its portfolio with a "venture capital" approach using an organic "quick reaction" capability.

· I want to recruit, develop, reward and retain an effective workforce to meet demanding requirements and changing technology.

"Let there be no doubt in anyone's mind that ESC knows its mission... that we'll perform it with unparalleled teamwork... and that the spirit of innovation will shine through no matter what challenge we face," he wrote.

"I'm thankful to be at the helm of this proud, unique ship. The challenges are stimulating, the mission is vital... and the people who join together to put 'lightning in a bottle' for our warfighters are the most committed and dedicated I've known in my career."