Author Biography

Thomas, Rob

 

 

Biographical Notes

Rob C. Thomas II, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Warfighting Integration, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. Mr. Thomas serves as principal assistant to the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Warfighting Integration. He directs the integration of manned, unmanned and space systems to create an integrated command and control, communications and computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability for the Air Force. He is responsible for the formulation and execution of long-range strategic plans for integration of C4ISR, Air Force experimentation, Air Force modeling and simulation, and communications and information systems, to include information assurance. He directs the development and promulgation of policies and enterprise integration resources to implement Air Force-wide enterprise integration efforts through the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System. Mr. Thomas determines the most economical means of achieving effective C4ISR capability for the warfighter. He is also the senior civilian for the Air Force communications and information functional community.

Prior to joining the Deputy Chief of Staff for Warfighting Integration, Mr. Thomas was Director of Architecture and Interoperability with the Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Information. In this position he was the service's chief communications and information architect. During his tenure he transformed the Air Force's infostructure architecture. Previously he had served as Director of Technology and Architecture, U.S. Customs Service. In those positions, Mr. Thomas created and directed an agency-wide enterprise architecture and investment management process. He was credited with closing management weaknesses by the General Accounting Office, which was declared a best practice by the Office of Management and Budget, and the GAO. He served as the Acting Chief Architect for the Department of the Treasury in 2000, where he led the development of the Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework. He also served as Chair of the Federal CI Council Architecture Working Group. Mr. Thomas retired from the Air Force in 2001 after spending more than 20 years in active-duty, Air National Guard and Reserve service.