Leaders from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Chief Information Office (CIO) and the Office of Planning and Coordination Republic of Korea (ROK) Ministry of Defense (MOD) met August 4 for the first time for a bilateral Information and Communication Technology Cooperation Committee (ICTCC) Forum.
John Sherman, acting DOD CIO, virtually joined his counterpart Deputy Minister of the Office of Planning and Coordination Hyun Su Han of the ROK MOD for the forum. Building on the success of prior ICT Forum series, this was the first ICTCC meeting between the two countries.
The forum was conducted virtually, and represents the two nations’ commitment to maintain the strongest dialogue and cooperation. The leaders discussed areas of mutual interest including cybersecurity; defense information technology; command, control and communications and data. The forum is a part of the ROK-U.S. security partnership in this critical region of the world.
At the start of the meeting, Sherman and Han signed a governing ICTCC Terms of Reference (TOR). The TOR emphasizes the importance of the relationship to the Department in support of the alliance as well as the U.S. commitment to broaden our ability to coordinate military technology development with Allies to enable more effective combined operations. The ICTCC provides both nations with a key mechanism for senior consultations and a forum to exchange information and share best practices to facilitate interoperability.
The forum is expected to become an annual event with the next meeting in 2022.