The Navy’s Brad Cooper will take over at Centcom and get his fourth star, succeeding Army Gen. Michael Kurilla in that role. The Air Force’s Alexus Grynkewich will lead Eucom and be promoted to four-star, succeeding Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli in that position. Grynkewich will be dual-hatted as NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe.

The officers were confirmed unanimously by voice vote along with a slew of other nominations.

Cooper previously served as deputy commander of Centcom. Before that, he led Naval Forces Central Command and 5th Fleet, where he oversaw Task Force 59, which was established to help the Navy better integrate uncrewed systems and AI into its operations to strengthen the service’s maritime domain awareness.

Grynkewich had been serving as director of operations, J-3, with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Prior to that, he led Air Forces Central and Combined Forces Air Component Commander under U.S. Central Command. As commander of AFCENT, he was a booster for Task Force 99, which was stood up to operationally evaluate new drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and other missions.

Cooper is taking the helm at Centcom amid heightened tensions with Iran following the recent U.S. airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites with B-2 stealth bombers and 30,000-pound “massive ordnance penetrator” (MOP) weapons during Operation Midnight Hammer. Earlier this year, the command was combating Yemen’s Houthis during Operation Rough Rider.

In written responses to lawmakers’ advance policy questions ahead of his confirmation hearing, Cooper said that as Centcom commander, he would “launch new initiatives that advance our overmatch through the employment of cutting-edge technologies, including AI-enabled, unmanned platforms and digital integration. Ultimately, we must protect our homeland, counter malign influence, ensure freedom of navigation, compete strategically, and ensure USCENTCOM remains a combat-credible force for security in the region.”

Similarly, Grynkewich will command Eucom as the Ukraine-Russia war — in which drones and counter-drone systems have played a major role — rages on and U.S. military leaders are drawing lessons from the conflict.

“Since the conflict in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, warfare has evolved at a pace unseen since the Cold War’s end. Ukraine and Russia have developed and deployed new technologies and tactics on an innovation cycle of months rather than years. As a result, the U.S. Joint Force has established multiple cells to consistently analyze advancements and integrate lessons learned from the battlefield into U.S. and NATO exercises. For example, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have rapidly innovated their use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and uncrewed surface vessels (USV). UAS and USV operations are now conducted at scale, with significant impact and continuous technological updates. This attribute of the modern battlefield is fostering a shift to a culture of innovation, agility, and lethality across all elements of the U.S. and NATO Joint Force, from industry to operators,” he wrote.

Grynkewich told senators that as commander of Eucom, he would be “a strong advocate for continued investment and prioritization of funding for the fielding and protection of innovative logistics capabilities, such as AI-enabled tools with predictive analytics and autonomous distribution systems.”

Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee still hasn’t scheduled confirmation hearings for several other Trump nominees for key positions at the Defense Department, including Marine Corps Gen. Christopher Mahoney, who was picked to be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Navy Adm. Daryl Caudle, who was selected for chief of naval operations; Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, who’s been tapped to command U.S. Africa Command; Navy Vice Adm. Frank Bradley, who was chosen to lead U.S. Special Operations Command; and former congressional candidate and Green Beret Derrick Anderson, who was put forth to serve as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict after the nomination of Air Force veteran Michael Jensen for the ASD SO/LIC job was withdrawn without explanation.

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On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that Air Force Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich has been tapped by the commander-in-chief for appointment to the grade of general and assignment as commander of U.S. European Command. NATO has also agreed to appoint him as supreme allied commander Europe, according to the announcement.

Grynkewich is currently serving as director of operations, J-3, with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Prior to that, he led Air Forces Central and Combined Forces Air Component Commander under U.S. Central Command. As commander of AFCENT, he championed the work of Task Force 99, which was stood up to operationally evaluate new drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and other missions.

If confirmed, Grynkewich would assume the top military leadership role in NATO as the alliance is pursuing AI and other new tech as well as new relationships with non-traditional industry. The Trump administration is also pushing other members of NATO to shoulder more of the burden for defense of Europe, stating that the U.S. military needs to focus more on the Pacific and homeland defense.

On Wednesday, Hegseth announced that Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper was nominated for appointment to the grade of admiral, with assignment as commander of Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East region. Cooper is currently serving as deputy commander.

Centcom’s area of responsibility has long been a hotspot for U.S. military actions against militant groups and nation-state actors, including recently battling the Houthis and trying to thwart their drone and missile attacks against vessels in the Red Sea.

Prior to his current job, Cooper led Naval Forces Central Command and 5th Fleet, where he was a big proponent of Task Force 59, which was established to help the Navy better integrate uncrewed systems and AI into its operations to strengthen the service’s maritime domain awareness.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson has been tapped to become a four-star and command U.S. Africa Command. Africom earlier this year was given expanded authority by Trump to attack terrorist targets in its area of responsibility and is adjusting its posture as it tries to deal with growing threats.

Anderson has held a number of positions in the special operations community during his career, including as commander of Special Operations Command-Africa, among other assignments. He’s currently serving as director of joint force development, J-7, with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

On Tuesday, Hegseth announced that Vice Adm. Frank Bradley, who comes from the Navy SEAL community, was selected for appointment to the grade of admiral and to lead U.S. Special Operations Command. He’s currently serving as commander of Joint Special Operations Command.

SOCOM has been a leader within the Defense Department in adopting cutting-edge tech such as AI and other digital tools, including via its SOF Digital Applications program executive office. The command recently released an updated strategy dubbed SOF Renaissance, which laid out SOCOM’s vision for how the force needs to transform to meet future challenges by adopting new technologies and other reforms, including modernization efforts geared toward surface and subsurface maritime platforms; next-generation ISR; mission command systems; and collaborative and autonomous unmanned systems.

In other SOF-related personnel news this week, Trump on Monday nominated former congressional candidate and Green Beret Derrick Anderson to serve as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.

The nominees must be confirmed by the Senate to take on those new roles.

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Over the next year, the commands will each host several BRAVO “hackathons” where participants will use Defense Department data collected from the operational theater to produce rough prototypes that could turn into real Defense Department programs. Members of the U.S. military and civilians can take part, and some hackathons will even have international participation, according to a DOD press release.

“The use of emerging AI tools to quickly analyze and leverage data for decision advantage is critical in today’s increasingly complex threat environment,” EUCOM Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Peter Andrysiak said in a statement. “Establishing one of the BRAVO AI Battle labs within the USEUCOM region is an important investment for this command. The lab will enable greater innovation at the edge, with our Allies and partners, against a range of challenges at a pivotal time for the command.”

The labs will be run in partnership with the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s (CDAO) Algorithmic Warfare Directorate and the Defense Innovation Unit. Those participating will be able to work with data across multiple classification levels in a software development environment that allows for open-source code and commercial software integration, a DOD release stated.

Deputy CDAO for Algorithmic Warfare Joe Larson said in a statement that the BRAVO Hackathons are an opportunity for the Pentagon to improve its agile software development practices.

“By providing the seed funding to establish the AI Battle Labs in EUCOM and INDOPACOM, we will be designing and testing data analytic and AI capabilities with warfighters, not for them, informing and strengthening our ability to deliver exactly what they need to win,” he noted.

The BRAVO hackathon series has been an ongoing success at the Department of the Air Force since 2022. Three hackathons have produced 81 operational prototypes, dozens of which have undergone additional resourcing and influenced major Pentagon research and acquisition efforts, according to a DOD press release.

Some of those include capabilities for large language models, space launches, unmanned systems, battle damage assessment and intelligence analysis, it added.

Stuart Wagner, the Air Force’s chief digital transformation officer and lead for the BRAVO AI Battle Labs, said that deploying the capabilities developed in the labs to the operational theater is still taking months or years. Standing up sites with Eucom and Indopacom aims to shorten that timeline, he added.

“We are deploying these labs to drop this timeline by a factor of 100 — from months or years to days and eventually hours — by increasingly automating bureaucratic processes such as data classification determinations and authority to operate applications,” Wagner said in a statement “If successful, we will adapt our capabilities and tactics to our strategic competitors faster than they can adapt to us.” 

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The role, deputy operations (J3) for information warfare, was established on April 7, 2022, according to a spokesperson, to integrate and synchronize information forces such as cyber and information operations within the command.

While other combatant commands may not have created an analogous position in name alone, some created positions with similar roles. There is currently no official definition or lexicon for information warfare within the Department of Defense. As a result, the services and commands have sought to organize under their own specific lines of how they interpret and approach information warfare.

Those areas generally include cyberspace, the electromagnetic spectrum, information operations, deception, psychological operations and intelligence.

Lawmakers, along with the Government Accountability Office, have expressed concerns regarding the lack of agreed upon lexicon in the information sphere.

The DOD in September revised its doctrine, publishing Joint Publication 3-04, Information in Joint Operations, which builds upon previous doctrine and introduces some new concepts, to include getting away from parochial “information operations” and moving toward broader “operations in the information environment,” as the U.S. military refers to them.

Spacecom’s global operations directorate, or J3, is split between a deputy for space operations and a deputy for information warfare. It sought to create a position to better posture itself to compete in the information environment all the way from the competition phase to conflict.

“Consistent with JP 3-04, the U.S. Space Command commander established the Information Warfare division to synchronize its information forces in a manner that ensures we can effectively compete in the information environment from competition to conflict,” a spokesperson said, adding that each combatant command is organized differently to best address their requirements.

“Consistent with Joint Publication 3-04, U.S. Space Command’s overall Information Warfare effort focuses on conducting operations in the information environment that involves the integrated employment of multiple information forces to affect drivers of behavior by informing audiences, influencing foreign relevant actors, and attacking and exploiting relevant actor information, information networks, and information systems,” the spokesperson said.

DefenseScoop reached out to the other combatant commands to see if they had created an information operations director or an analogous position.

Strategic Command, Central Command and Northern Command said they do not have information warfare directorates.

Transportation Command, typically always the supporting command as a functional combatant command, said while it does not have a director or directorate staff section for information warfare, it coordinates with the supported command’s public affairs office for synchronized communications for messaging in line with DOD’s principles of information and public affairs guidance.

Most combatant commands have a staff section, dubbed the J-39, that handle and coordinate information ops.

European Command “maintains this doctrinal structure through the USEUCOM J-39 Information Operations Division,” a spokesperson said. “In September of 2022, Joint Stuff published the Joint Publication 3-04, Operations in the Information Environment (OIE), superseding the JP 3-13 Information Operations. The OIE term replaced information operations. Although some services use the term ‘information warfare,’ information warfare is not in Joint Staff lexicon with respect to organization and structure. Strategic documents and Service publications may use the term ‘information warfare’ to describe the mobilizing of information to attain a competitive advantage and achieve United States (US) policy goals.”

The personnel within Eucom’s J-39 include military information support operations, operations security, data science and operations research used by information planners to achieve the combatant commander’s objectives, the spokesperson added.

In a similar vein, Southern Command doesn’t have an information warfare director or directorate, but rather a doctrinal Information Operations Working Group, a spokesperson said. This working group brings together a cross section of representatives from offices and divisions such as public affairs, military information support operations and civil affairs, they added.

“The working group’s primary purpose is to ensure synchronized communications planning, implementation, and evaluation in support of the command’s theater strategy, mission, operations, and partnerships,” the spokesperson said. “Though the working group does not have direct meetings with other combatant commands programmed into their schedules, they do coordinate closely with counterparts from other combatant commands when supporting operations, engagements and events requiring collaboration between geographic and functional combatant commands.”

Cyber Command’s information operations entity is also located in its J3 operations directorate and assists in planning, coordinating, integrating, assessing and de-conflicting information-related capabilities for various military operations across all service components, a spokesperson said. That support is provided to combatant commands through the services within their specific theaters of responsibility.

Special Operation Command, which as a functional combatant command is not an operational headquarters and thus doesn’t actually command and control operations, has an official that runs the J-39 division, called the operations in the information environment (OIE) division chief, according to a spokesperson.

This entity works with all other combatant commands and contains three branches: civil affairs, military information support and information coordination.

“The J39 OIE Division leads the integration of Joint Information Operations and is responsible for Special Operations Forces’ Information Operations policy, strategy, plans, and operations to achieve national security objectives globally,” the spokesperson said. “The division is also responsible for USSOCOM’s authorities and requirements as the Joint Proponent for Civil Affairs and Military Information Support Operations.”

Africa Command and Indo-Pacific Command have not provided responses.

Updated on May 16, 2023, at 2:10 PM: This story has been updated to clarify that U.S. Space Command is the only combatant command among the many that responded to DefenseScoop’s queries, to create a new position specifically dedicated to information warfare. A previous version of this story said it was the only combatant command to create such a position. DefenseScoop did not receive comment from Africa Command or Indo-Pacific Command about whether they have created a similar position.

Updated on May 16, 2023, at 5:29 PM: This story has been updated to include a response from Northern Command that was received after the story was first published.

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