The Army is making changes in the way soldiers compile, assess and ultimately use data.
“While the Army is taking the right stops toward becoming more data-centric, technology is not enough to solve enterprise data challenges,” said David Pierce, the Army’s chief intelligence officer. “Cultural shifts are required to change how the Army views the value of data.”
Data management now will involve bolstering literacy, enhancing processes and sharing the knowledge it provides with those who need it. As such, soldiers and Army civilians can expect to be required to improve how they “write, understand, analyze and communicate information,” the service said.
The initiative is the latest step in an overall plan put forth in 2022 by service Secretary Christine E. Wormuth to establish an Army-wide model that would ultimately provide soldiers with distinct and palpable advantages on the battlefield.
Pierce cited work being done now by the Fort Eisenhower, Georgia-based 513th Military Intelligence Brigade. The unit has successfully held “hackathons,” for example, which intelligence officials follow up during idea-sharing sessions geared toward solving real-world problems.
The 513th also has teamed up with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to form a data literacy task force. Data-literacy experts take the same literacy course as cadets – Data 101.
The Army’s access to data will continue to both expand and be of increased use, Col. Molly Solsbury, the unit’s commander, said.
“Multi-domain operations [are] largely informed by what a commander can see, both strategically across the globe and with their battlespace,” Solsbury said. “While data has always been critical, the growing scale with which the Army works with data and the breadth of available digital systems and networks that connect them changes how the Army consumes and transforms data into actionable insights and knowledge that commanders can use for decision-making.”
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