In July 2002, a workforce assessment of information technology personnel found that a 70 percent of the job tasks between Information Systems Technician (IT) and Cryptologic Technician Communications (CTO) overlapped.

This study, requested by the Director of Naval Training and Education (N79), sparked a recommendation to merge the two ratings to save manpower, personnel and training costs in the long-term.

“Based on the findings and commonalities in job tasks associated with both ratings, this merger just makes sense,” said Center for Information Technology (CIT) Functional Lead for Security CTOC(SW) Jonathan Brandt. “We discovered redundancies and gaps, not only in what we were training at the front end of the CTO and IT pipelines, but also what we were expecting them to do for us in the Fleet.”

The CTO/IT merger is planned for FY07. As a result all remaining CTO accessions are being rerouted to Great Lakes, Ill., to attend IT A school and graduate with an IT designation. Additionally, Center for Cryptology (CC), with assistance from the school staff in Great Lakes, Commander Naval Personnel Command (CNPC), Commander Naval Recruiting Command (CNRC), Training Support Center (TSC) in Great Lakes and Training Support Detachment (TSD) onboard Corry Station, provided the means to send the last nine CTO students from Pensacola, Fla., to Great Lakes to begin IT A school this month.

“Combining the two ratings offers the Fleet a more efficient Information Technology workforce to successfully complete the mission,” said Brandt. “It will also allow us to streamline the training pipeline, ensuring our Sailors are getting the tools and opportunities they need to excel on the job, and in their careers.”

The merger will be phased in over the next three years as billets are converted over for eligible CTOs. Those in paygrades E1 to E4 do not require any additional formal training, but Sailors in paygrades E5 to E9 will receive system specific and orientation training required for future assignment via C schools en route to their next commands.

For more information, visit the Center for Cryptology and Center for Information Technology pages on Navy Knowledge Online at http://www.nko.navy.mil