14th Air Force celebrates ACCC launch

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Clayton Wear

14th Air Force members and personnel gathered for a symbolic ribbon cutting to showcase the new Air Force Communications Control Center here, Oct. 20th, 2017, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

Now that the ACCC is active, it provides vital service to Defensive Cyber Operations and Air Force Network operations.

“The ACCC serves as a focal-point for DCO across the space enterprise; advising commanders on operational impacts of cyber orders, threats, risks, and intelligence to space missions,” said Lt. Col. Jontae McGrew, 14th Air Force director of cyberspace operations. “Today’s ribbon cutting ceremony celebrated the hard work and dedication of the 14th Air Force ACCC members and personnel who were integral to the planning, funding, and execution of this capability.”

To complete this project, many groups played vital roles in the process.

“Partners from many organizations have been involved,” said Col. Mitchell Stratton, 14th Air Force director of space and cyber operations. “Air Force Space Command program offices such as Space and Missile Command, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, 24th Air Force and their 624th Operations Center, our five space wings, the 614th Air Operations Center, and the 14th Air Force staff.  Buy in and participation from all of these partners was critical to getting here.”

This, now completed, year and a half long project strengthens the 14th Air Force’s capabilities in many ways.

“There is no warfighting activity conducted by the joint force that is not reliant on space support in some way,” said Stratton. “We must ensure these systems are available to warfighters, throughout the entire continuum of war.  Our spacecraft are analogous to unmanned aerial vehicles. The data they collect must traverse communication pathways to get to the end users; we rely on cyber pathways to task these spacecraft and keep them healthy. These computer systems and cyber pathways are targets for cyber-attack and they must proactively be defended.”

The ACCC will track and prioritize cyber orders applicable to space missions, disseminate indications and warnings to mission owners, analyze threats across multiple platform, and synchronize cyber efforts into future operations.