New DOD Initiative to Integrate Data Teams Into Combatant Commands

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, a 2021 Wash100 winner, has announced a new initiative aimed at integrating teams of data experts within combatant commands to help them make better use of data.

The effort, dubbed Artificial Intelligence and Data Accelerator, is part of the military’s Joint All Domain Command and Control strategy for future warfare.

According to Hicks, the embedded data teams will help modernize data usage policies and the data and information technology infrastructure used by combatant commands, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

Under AIDA, combatant commands will receive support from operational data teams specializing in developing new tools and policies, and flyaway teams staffed by experts that can provide assistance on specific problem sets.

The Department of Defense will begin implementing AIDA within the next 90 days.

Other pieces critical to the JADC2 strategy, including a department-wide cloud, are being pursued by the DOD. With the embattled Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract still stuck in litigation, the DOD is now evaluating its options for an enterprise cloud solution.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently signed off on the Joint Warfighting Concept, a military strategy focused on enabling all domain operations.

According to a senior defense official, Austin will oversee the implementation of the strategy down to the experimentation and prototyping phases.

A series of accompanying strategic directives, which define joint requirements for key tenets of the JWC, including joint fires and information advantage, is set to be issued soon by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council.