In today’s security environment — defined by an intensifying global competition and an increase in geopolitical tensions — data has become essential. The ability to share data and leverage it to drive decisions is an essential piece of the CJADC2 puzzle, and Department of Defense leaders are taking a closer look at how they’re harnessing their own data.
“Really what we want to be able to do is take logistics data, combine it with intelligence data and then sprinkle in the operational data. And now we have the site picture that we’ve never had before,” said DOD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment Steven Morani during the Potomac Officers Club’s Achieving Transformative Cooperation for National Defense Forum on Thursday.
“And with machine learning and AI, [we have] the ability to navigate all that information and close our decision cycle. It’s all about that decision cycle. Our decision cycle has to be faster than our adversaries. That’s what’s going to make us successful,” he explained.
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During his keynote speech at the event, Morani shared the top three priorities guiding ASD(S). The first of these priorities is the Regional Sustainment Framework, which Morani described as a “way of thinking differently about how we’re going to support our warfighter particularly with maintenance, repair and overhaul.”
Morani spoke about the importance of expanding and broadening our repair networks, especially in remote regions, and particularly in the Indo-Pacific. Currently, ASD(S) is getting feedback from and coordinating with the services to make sure it’s aligned with their needs.
The second priority Morani listed was sustainment analytics and technology adoption, which encompasses a lot of work in the data space and closely aligns with CJADC2 goals. Last month, ASD(S) released its first ever logistics information technology strategy
Morani said this strategy’s purpose is “to guide our logistics enterprise in transforming how we use data, what systems that we’re going to modernize, what systems we sunset, how we can prioritize modernization so that we can close our data gap.” Morani also noted that the strategy will drive the agency’s investments.
The agency’s third priority is operational support to the warfighter, which Morani said has waned slightly in recent years as the security environment has evolved.
“Because we came out of Afghanistan and Iraq and we drew down a significant amount of force structure, we also drew down some capabilities that we had stood up to make sure that we had support of warfighters,” he explained.
“We don’t go to war without contractors. We built out this very robust operational contract support capability — it has since atrophied. So in the past couple of years, we’ve been working to bring that back,” said Morani.
The key takeaway Morani hoped to impart upon the audience was that data governance — while it may be considered “boring” by some — is “absolutely essential if we’re all going to operate together and understand each other.”
