Braxton Taylor
The Navy has relieved the commanding officer of a San Diego-based school for its information warfare sailors, a statement announced Thursday.
Cmdr. Cayanne McFarlane was relieved as commander of Naval Information Warfare Training Group San Diego by Capt. Meredith Schley, the commodore of the Naval Information Warfare Training Group.
According to its website, the schoolhouse’s mission “is to train, support and deploy naval forces to execute the Information Warfare (IW) mission in support of naval operations.”
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McFarlane’s relief, which was officially over a “loss of confidence in her ability to command,” marks at least the 12th firing of a commanding officer this year for the Navy.
Loss of confidence is a boilerplate reason provided by the Navy, and other military services, that can encompass anything from consistent poor performance by a command on key evaluations to personal actions like drunken driving.
A military official told Military.com that McFarlane was relieved over a matter of personal conduct that did not involve allegations that would have affected another sailor.
Navy officials have previously said the sea service relieved 15 commanding officers in 2023. There are currently around 1,600 commanding officers in the active-duty Navy across all communities.
According to her Navy biography, McFarlane is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy who was commissioned as a cryptologic warfare officer in 2006.
Records provided by the Navy to Military.com show that she earned both Surface Warfare Officer and Information Dominance Warfare Officer certifications.
She began her career at the Navy Information Operations Command in Texas in 2006 before serving aboard the destroyer USS Farragut as the ship’s information warfare officer and electronic warfare officer.
She eventually moved to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, where she worked in the Joint Information Operations Center and later as an aide-de-camp to the deputy commander.
McFarlane assumed command of the San Diego schoolhouse in April 2023.
Her decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, two awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, a Joint Service Commendation Medal, and two awards of the Joint Service Achievement Medal, among other service and unit awards, records show.
According to the Navy’s statement, McFarlane has been temporarily reassigned to Naval Information Forces, while Cmdr. Dominic DiMaggio, the executive officer of the Fleet Weather Center in San Diego, has been temporarily assigned as the school’s commanding officer until a permanent replacement is designated.
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