Tomorrow Commander Phil Hickman will be relieved by Commander Eren Cataloglu as the Commanding Officer, Cryptologic Warfare Activity Sixty Seven (CWA 67). Some of Commander Hickman’ significant accomplishments while in command include the following:

Led over 400 Sailors providing highly trained personnel to Naval and National operations supporting fleet, theater, and national decision-makers across all combatant commander (CCMD) Areas of Responsibility. He supported seven 24/7 national watch floors to include the National Security Operations Center, Integrated Warfighter and Cyber Support, NSA Cyber Technical Operations Center, and NSA Incident Support Team.

Planned and delivered professional development and training for officers, CPO Mess, and Sailors including weekly discussions on mentorship, effective administrative practices, leadership opportunities, career progression, decision-making strategies, ethics, Navy policies and initiatives, innovation, and partnership.

Drove engagement and collaboration with internal and external Intelligence Community Partners in support of cyber operations planning. Collaborated with cyber leaders and planners at Joint Staff, USCC, CCMDs, ODNI Staff, IC, and foreign partners to ensure synchronization with IC and DoD priorities tied to national military strategy.

Deployed over 50 Sailors for more than 9,900 days in support of Director, National Security Agency and Commander, TENTH Fleet directed operations across all CCMD AORs. His sailors conducted vital operations in support of 14 named operations including INVERTED LIGHT, TRIDENT BRAWL, INHERENT RESOLVE, FREEDOM’S SENTINEL, JUNIPER SHIELD, GALLANT PHOENIX, FABLED DANGLE, BRICK HOUSE, OCTAVE QUARTZ, OCTAVE SHIELD, UNITED WALLET, NEW NORMAL, ENDURING FREEDOM-HOA, RESOLUTE SUPPORT, and multiple SOF task forces.

CWA-67 released of over 5,000 tippers, over 30,000 time-sensitive intelligence reports and over 100,000 tactical reports, while his sailors created a system that tracks 42,000 language translations per month, resulting in a better informed intelligence community and superior battlespace awareness critical to mission success.

During the constraints of COVID-19, CDR Hickman’s leadership ensured CWA-67 ready personnel were assigned to the NSA Computer Network Operation (CNO) Security Operation Center (SOC). CWA-67 was the primary sustainer of CNO SOC’s readiness posture throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As many government civilians were required to remain at home, it was CWA-67 sailors who flawlessly filled the positions of senior personnel in the paygrades of GS-11 through GS-15 as team leaders, tier 1 and tier 2 analysts.

Ensured CWA-67 personnel assigned to the NSA National Cryptologic School (NCS) led joint-service and civilian faculty in course development to provide virtual learning solutions during COVID-19 Pandemic. Efforts led to virtual offerings of more than 20 courses totaling in excess of 52 weeks of instruction to more than 500 students. Creating new virtual options greatly improved NCS ability to deliver instruction to remote field sites, substantially increasing the capabilities of the entire extended Cryptologic Enterprise. Further, CWA-67 personnel were instrumental in creating new course content to improve technical language capabilities in cyber and networking realms, an effort which will dramatically increase the ability of our workforce to meet emerging threats in Great Power Competition.

CDR Hickman’s biography follows.

Commander Phillip L. Hickman, Jr, USN
Commanding Officer
Cryptologic Warfare Activity Sixty Seven (CWA 67)

CDR Hickman, a native of Paola, Kan., attended boot camp at Great Lakes in 1998 and then completed Cryptologic Technician Technical “A” School in Pensacola, Fla., followed by Classic Wizard “C” School at Naval Security Group Activity (NSGA) Winter Harbor, Maine.  He graduated from Regis University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in Business and was commissioned through Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Fla.  He also holds a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University and a Cyber Security Certificate from Naval Postgraduate School.

He began his cryptologic career as a technical electronic intelligence signals analyst at NSGA Denver, Col.  As an officer, he served as a global targets watch officer on the National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) National Security Operations Center watch floor and an action officer in NSA’s Integrated Broadcast Service Support Office, while at NSGA Fort George G. Meade, Md.; as electronic warfare officer aboard USS Porter (DDG 78), where he deployed as part of Surface Strike Group 06-1; as cryptologic carry-on program functional manager in U.S. Fleet Forces Command’s N2/39 directorate; as cryptologic resource coordinator, signals intelligence collection manager, and naval activities control officer for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet, where he deployed with Naval Special Warfare Group THREE as the Direct Support Element Officer In Charge of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE; as associate director for S2 transnational issues at NSA/CSS Georgia, completing a Joint Duty Assignment List (JDAL) tour; and as N3 fleet operations officer, a fleet milestone billet, at Navy Information Operations Command Georgia; as executive officer, Information Warfare Training Command Corry Station.  In his latest assignment he served as Deputy Information Warfare Commander and Assistant Chief of Staff for Integrated Fires, Commander Carrier Strike Group NINE where he deployed as part of THEODORE ROOSEVELT Strike Group 20-1.

He reported as Commanding Officer Cryptologic Warfare Activity SIXTY-SEVEN in June 2020.

His personal awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), Joint Service Achievement Medal, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (three awards).

Congratulations on a successful naval career shipmate!