The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is poised to unveil a comprehensive revamp of its data strategy soon, according to senior agency leaders.
Those officials told reporters at DISA’s Forecast to Industry Conference on Oct. 28 that the agency is in the midst of an internal commentary period for a strategic roadmap for data.
The upcoming roadmap – which has a near-term but still indefinite release date – will be a continuation of DISA’s existing data strategy.
In August 2022, DISA unveiled it Data Strategy Implementation Plan for FY 2022-2024, which sought to unravel the combat support agency’s current data architecture and rebuild it into a cohesive system that enables transparency and data sharing and encourages data collaboration.
This time around the strategy aims to “put that data to best use,” according to Christopher Barnhurst, DISA’s deputy director.
“We’re still in the early stages of getting after that within the agency,” Barnhurst told reporters.
The upcoming strategy will take a “multi-prong approach to everything from data management, [data governance], the requirements that programs and capabilities will have to adhere to as they develop amongst their life cycle, to then ultimately put that data to best use to support the end user,” he said.
Notably, the new data strategy will also include initiatives to integrate efforts and capabilities of the agency’s emerging tech directorate, such as automation of data normalization, automation for application programming interface security and registration, and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for data reporting.
According to Steve Wallace, DISA’s director of Emerging Technology and chief technology officer, the Pentagon has a challenge with harnessing data, and AI and automation serve as good toolkit applications to go after that challenge.
“[The strategy] focuses down on where [AI and automation] is going to be useful and how to harness it going into the future,” said Wallace.
While the strategy is not ready for public release, the agency’s newest director is ready to move.
During his opening remarks on the main stage at the Oct. 28 event, Lt. Gen Paul Stanton stressed the need for rapid, data-driven decision making on the battlefield and emphasized that success on the modern battlefield hinges on delivering the “right data to the right people at the right time.”
“When we give U.S. commanders decision space, we will fight and win,” he said. “Making a better and faster decision than our enemies is central to how we execute.”
When speaking to reporters, Stanton further explained that “military commanders make risk decisions and have to be armed with the right information to bound and control the risk.”
“It’s good,” Stanton said about the developing strategy, adding that it’s time to “dot some ‘I’ and cross some ‘T’ and publish so that we can solve some problems.”
“Let’s move,” he told reporters. “We can arm wrestle about the words and the strategy until we’re blue in the face, or we can accept that the strategy as written is close. We’ll publish it relatively soon and move.”
