Today, Captain Cole was relieved by Captain Hicks as Commanding Officer, Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command.  Captain Hicks’ biography follows:

CAPT Christina M. Hicks, USN
Commanding Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command

CAPT Hicks is an Information Warfare officer and the daughter of a Navy Chief. She is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Project Management Professional, designated Joint Qualified Officer, a member of Navy’s Space Cadre community, and holds degrees in Professional Physics, Engineering Management, and Space Systems Operations.

After receiving her commission, CAPT Hicks reported to the USS ASHLAND (LSD 48) as the Combat Information Center Officer and earned her Surface Warfare Officer designation. Upon completion of Navy Nuclear Power School, she served on the USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) as Reactor Mechanical Division Officer where she deployed to the North Atlantic during SUMMER PULSE ’04 and qualified Nuclear Engineering Officer. She later returned to the USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) as the Combat Systems Information Officer and deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.

She has commanded the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station, Guam and served on the Chief of Naval Operations staff in Washington, D.C. Other shore assignments include: the Military Ultra High Frequency Strategic Satellite Communications Manager and Aide-de-Camp to the Commander at U.S. Strategic Command; Executive Officer to the Director of Command and Control Communications and Computer Systems, J6, and the Chief of Operations for the Joint Cyber Center at U.S. Central Command; Operations Officer at Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station, Atlantic; and Military Team Lead and C4I Chief for Joint Collective Training at U.S. Special Operations Command. Before taking command of NCDOC, CAPT Hicks served as the Deputy Executive Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations.

She has served on teams that have been recognized with numerous awards and is the recipient of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (3), Navy Meritorious Service Medal (2) and Commendation Medal (3). She also received the 2009 Admiral William Adger Moffett Space Systems Award for her contributions to the application of emerging space technologies and the 2015 Sparky Baird Award for the outstanding SIGNAL Magazine article of the year.