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News | Aug. 30, 2007

USSTRATCOM personnel complete first-ever UNO Information Operations Certificate Program

USSTRATCOM staff at awards ceremony

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. - Fourteen U.S. Strategic Command military and civilian personnel were presented certificates here Aug. 27 for completing the first-ever graduate-level Information Operations Certificate Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Lieutenant General C. Robert Kehler, USSTRATCOM commander, presented the certificates during a ceremony at STRATCOM Headquarters and charged the newly-certified graduates to apply what they learned to better national security and defeat our adversaries.

""You are the folks that help us bridge the gap between theory and understanding in terms of technology and information activities,"" Kehler said. ""You help to determine how we apply them to national security. "

The 15-week program was developed through an educational partnership with UNO Peter Kiewit Institute and USSTRATCOM in order to fill the void of a centralized educational focus for Information Operations. The four courses under its construct are Comparative Political Culture, Foundations of Information Assurance, Mass Communication and World Religions.

""We wanted to support the command in understanding the types of information that were required,"" said Dr. Winnie Callahan, Peter Kiewit Institute executive director. ""I knew we had the capability as long as USSTRATCOM and the university partnered and defined very clearly where they wanted to go. ""

Throughout the courses, students and facilitators provided feedback to keep the program on track and ensure the students were getting the information they needed to be more productive in their IO careers.

""[The program] has assisted me in conducting my duties and responsibilities as an IO exercise planner/analyst in developing realistic exercise scenarios,"" said Mike Olsovsky, USSTRATCOM Joint Exercise and Training Information Operations exercise planner. ""The program provided me with a combination of comprehensive formal education and technical training to enable this command to build, develop and mature mission capabilities. ""

""We are very fortunate to live in a community that has an outstanding set of universities,"" Kehler said. ""It is helpful being able to leverage the tremendous academic support system that has risen out of this. ""

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