The Pentagon has released a new data, analytics, and AI adoption strategy with a focus on data shareability to enable all-domain command and control. DOD’s chief digital and AI officer, Craig Martell, identified the biggest challenge as getting tech companies to share data instead of keeping it to themselves. However, Martell is confident after talks with major tech contractors such as Palantir, Google, Oracle, and Microsoft. The strategy aims to decentralize the Defense Department’s data network and improve data quality across the enterprise.
The new strategy emphasizes the need for different parts of the Defense Department to access data that might belong to others, in pursuit of the connect-everything vision and combined joint all-domain command and control (CJADC2). Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks emphasized the importance of the data strategy as the foundation for using AI tools, while also noting the need for AI tools to comply with ethical principles for responsible operational use.
The Pentagon’s use of AI tools will rely on faster and more transparent data to enable quicker operations at a larger scale. The strategy is informed by the lessons from the conflict in Ukraine, which highlighted the importance of high-quality, usable data for effective decision-making.
