Jeremiah Hurley and Morgan Greene
The Department of Defense (DOD) and its Service components are investing in advanced technologies to gain and maintain a competitive advantage over adversaries and pacing threats such as China and Russia. From automated sensorshooter networks, artificial intelligence, and next-generation vehicles, helicopters, and weapons, as well as software factories and innovation centers, the breadth and depth of the DOD undertaking is growing by the day to meet the demands of advanced technological warfare.
Regardless of these advances, the DOD military advantage will come from an ability to understand the situation and then develop and execute courses of action faster than our adversaries. Critical to meeting this challenge is the DOD ability to collect, harness, and utilize data across these advanced platforms and systems. To do this, DOD must do two things. First, it must focus on data by embracing a data-first mindset, an aspect of organizational culture by which its members prioritize the use of data in their day-to-day operations, staffing actions, and decisionmaking. When faced with a question or challenge, organizations that possess a data-first mindset recognize that inventorying and comprehending relevant data lay the foundation for a timely, accurate, and effective solution
Second, DOD and its Service components must take concrete steps to operationalize this mindset. A natural place to begin is with operational planning because it serves as the connective tissue between military strategy and tactics. It is where most data converges to achieve theater-level and strategic objectives across multiple domains. Operational planning is the vehicle (ways) that Service and joint force headquarters use to employ assets and resources (means) to achieve their assigned mission and objectives (ends). It often makes nebulous or abstract strategy documents in terms of geography and American blood and treasure. Similarly, formalizing the use of data during operational planning for the Joint Staff and the Services will make the required data-first cultural shift a reality
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