THE WATCH STAFF
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has launched a Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (OCDAO) whose mission is to coordinate such strategies across the military.
John Sherman, the recently confirmed DOD chief information officer (CIO), will serve as the acting chief digital and artificial intelligence officer (CDAO) until the first-of-its-kind position is filled permanently, according to a February 4, 2022, DOD News story.
“(It’s) an honor to be able to help get this organization stood up while performing my chief information officer duties,” Sherman said in a February 2 call with reporters, according to DOD News.
(Pictured: John Sherman, now the Department of Defense’s chief information officer, participates in a virtual panel discussion on cybersecurity at the Pentagon in 2021.)
The CDAO will lead the defense department’s chief data offices, the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and the Defense Digital Service.
Sherman said the restructuring of those offices will give DOD “end-to-end” cohesion on areas from data collection and curation to advanced analytics, which will give the OCDAO an advantage in decision-making and operations.
Two February 2 memorandums signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks also offered insight into how the CDAO position will differ from others within the DOD.
The undersecretary of defense for research and engineering will lead data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) policy related to basic research through prototyping, while the CDAO will carry those efforts from prototyping to operations, one of the memos said, according to a February 2 story in Defense News. The CIO will continue to lead on core infrastructure — such as cybersecurity, cloud, data transport and networks — while the CDAO will set requirements for that core infrastructure and provide policy and guidance for the data, analytics and AI that interact with it, according to the memo.
“Let me just note that the goal here is for data, and data analytics and AI to enable faster and better decision-making, and therefore military advantage from campaigning to conflict,” a senior defense official said on the call, according to the government and technology news website Nextgov.
“As many of you know, China, in particular, is investing aggressively and using these capabilities to offset traditional U.S. advantages, and this is a key part of our efforts to match that pacing threat.”
The CDAO’s full operating capability is expected to be in place June 1, officials said, according to DOD News.
“It really is a collective ecosystem. We had the parts of it, but (we’re) putting it together in a way we haven’t before to deliver that decision advantage that our leaders need,” Sherman said during the call with reporters, according to Federal News Network.
The DoD also issued a Software Modernization Strategy, which was signed by Hicks.
Danielle Metz, deputy chief information officer for information enterprise, said the strategy is about harnessing the power of the cloud and developing software applications in the cloud to provide continuous incremental capability for the department and its warfighters, according to DOD News. The capability to deliver software will include support for artificial intelligence and Joint All-Domain Command and Control, she said.
“In this era of competition and the race for digital dominance, we simply cannot settle for incremental change anymore,” Jason Weiss, the DOD’s chief software officer, told DOD News.
“The department must come together to deliver software better and operate as a 21st century force.”
IMAGE CREDIT: CHAD J. MCNEELEY/DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE