Army Enterprise Information Systems Office to Establish New CIO Position

The U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems will create a chief information officer position to manage digital transformation initiatives. Speaking at AFCEA Belvoir’s Industry Days conference, Program Executive Officer Ross Guckert said the CIO will focus on data modernization, cloud strategy, risk management framework reform and data reference architectures and will be EIS’ key interface with other Army organizations that have similar digital transformation goals. The new position would be established in the next few months, DefenseScoop reported.

In 2021, the Army’s Office of the CIO released a new Digital Transformation Strategy to achieve a more ready, lethal and modern force by 2028. During the second annual Army IT and Digital Transformation Forum hosted by GovCon Wire Events in June, Army CIO Raj Iyer, a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, delivered a keynote address highlighting the need to provide soldiers with advanced capabilities to prepare for future threats and missions.

“The future is something we must continue to transform towards, but what is even more important is to ensure we’re innovating for today,” Iyer said. He shared that the Army is exploring tactical cloud edge computing and how soldiers can use data at the edge with minimal risks. 

The CIO noted that advancing the Army’s digital workforce would support the transformation initiatives within the military branch. Citing the new Digital Human Capital Strategy, Iyer urged federal executives to focus on talent retention and address current recruitment challenges.