The U.S. Army’s Network Cross-Functional Team is slated for a leadership shakeup.

Maj. Gen. Jeth Rey, the team’s director, will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Patrick Ellis, according to a personnel announcement shared by the Department of Defense. Rey has led the team at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, since 2021. He pinned a second star in his time there.

Ellis is expected to take over this summer. Rey will become the director of architecture, operations, networks and space at the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-6.

The Network Cross-Functional Team is an outgrowth of Army Futures Command, established in 2018 to tackle the service’s modernization requirements. It is one of eight original teams convened and works closely with the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, or PEO C3T.

Other foundational cross-functional teams include Long-Range Precision Fires, Next-Generation Combat Vehicles, Future Vertical Lift and Synthetic Training Environment.

The change of directors comes as the Army pays increasing attention to connectivity and digital security. Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George at the Association of the U.S. Army convention in October described an overhauled network as his priority.

“Soldiers need to shoot, move and communicate,” he said at the time. “Technology should facilitate those fundamentals, not encumber them.”

Colin Demarest was a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covered military networks, cyber and IT. Colin had previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Colin is also an award-winning photographer.

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