New leadership role

John Sherman Named DOD’s Acting Chief Digital and AI Officer

John Sherman, the Department of Defense’s incumbent chief information officer, revealed that he will concurrently be handling the role of acting chief digital and artificial intelligence officer. The newly-created position is responsible for overseeing the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, DOD chief data officer and Defense Digital Service, FedScoop reported Wednesday.

Sherman’s first order of business is to continue the formation of the new technology role for the Pentagon together with Jim Mitre, who recently returned to government service as senior adviser to the deputy secretary of defense. The new office reached initial operating capability and is expected to be fully up and running by June, it was also reported.

Sherman told reporters that the recent organizational movements are the DOD’s answer to the need to modernize its digital infrastructure and to encourage innovation.

In 2021, JAIC was removed from the CIO’s office to report directly to the deputy secretary of defense. However, with his new role as CDAO, Sherman regains his oversight over DOD’s AI research arm.

As CIO, Sherman will continue to focus on cybersecurity and the core information technology infrastructure of the department, while as CDAO, he will be responsible for creating policy and requirements on the data analytics and AI tech that uses that infrastructure.

Sherman said that the office presents a unique opportunity to combine the efforts of all the component organizations, like DDS’ software development talent, the JAIC’s focus on AI, and the CDO’s responsibility to curate data sets. A part of the office’s new responsibilities will be a review of different data authorities across the department, the official added.