RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Officials have created an information technology organization to consolidate IT assets and resources in the Air Force's manpower, personnel and services community.

Lt. Gen. Darrell Jones, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, recently directed the realignment of IT activities at the Air Force Personnel Center, Air Force Manpower Agency, Air Force Personnel Operations Agency, Air Force Services Agency and Headquarters Air Force, Deputy Chief of Staff Manpower, Personnel and Services under a single consolidated information technology organization. The new organization will consolidate about 450 positions from IT divisions across the affected agencies and merge them into AFPOA's organizational infrastructure.

Joe Thele, the new organization's provisional director, said the realignment was necessary to reduce the Air Force's expenses, achieve efficiencies and maximize customer service and mission support.

"Consolidation is one way to drive down IT costs and improve how we support the manpower, personnel and services community," Mr. Thele said.

Mr. Thele said realigning these IT resources will help make the Air Force's manpower, personnel and services agencies more efficient and effective from an enterprise perspective.

"This process is about restructuring our information technology capabilities into a single line of authority across these respective agencies," he said.

Mr. Thele and his team hosted two town hall meetings at Randolph and Lackland Air Force bases in March and discussed the IT realignment process with affected military and civilian IT members.

For more information on the new IT organization, log into the Air Force Portal and search for "A1 Consolidated IT Organization."