The chapter was proud to virtually host speakers, panelists and audience members from government and industry for the 2022 Army IT Day. The day featured three keynote speakers: Raj Iyer, chief information officer; Lt. Gen. John Morrison Jr., USA, Army G-6; and Megan Dake, deputy assistant secretary of the Army (Procurement), Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition Logistics & Technology. Between each keynote speaker were panels, information sessions, and breakouts covering topics like "Convergence at the Tactical Edge," "CIO perspectives," "Electronic Warfare" and "DISA." AFCEA NOVA Committee members introduced the speakers and moderated the panel sessions in support of the theme of the day, "The Digital Transformation Driving Convergence." The chapter would like to thank all sponsors, volunteers, and representatives from government and industry for their continued support.
Iyer kicked off the day by discussing the Army's Digital Transformation Strategy (ADTS) as part of the Waypoint 2028 initiative. This initiative supports the Army's role within Joint Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), and according to Iyer, the Army intends on leveraging innovative and transformative technologies with three objectives in mind:
1. Modernization & Readiness
2. Reform
3. People & Partnerships
Iyer stated that the Army's modernization efforts will leverage both digital capabilities and digital enablers. These digital capabilities include cloud, data, network and cyber initiatives, whereas the digital enablers will revolve around process and policy reform while enabling a digital workforce. Focusing on both technological and policy improvements will allow the Army to truly capitalize on innovation in the marketplace and remain ahead of the near-peer threats.
Maj. Gen. Robert Collins, USA, program executive officer (PEO) for Command, Control, Communications-Tactical (C3T), and Brig. Gen. Jeth Rey, USA, director, Network Cross Functional Team, AFC, came together to discuss 'Convergence at the Tactical Edge.' Their discussion followed the same theme: ADTS, Joint MDO and securing the Army's unified network. Gen. Collins shared how PEO C3T intends on continuing their technical exchange meetings with industry to prototype and experiment with future capabilities. Both speakers agreed their network priorities will revolve around being transport agnostic, ingesting the right data and adapting the latest architecture and encryption solutions to remain secure while keeping up with future technology.
The mid-morning session was represented by Ross Guckert, PEO, PEO-Enterprise Information Systems; Dovarius Peoples, director of corporate information, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); and Col. Brett Basler, vice chief information officer, National Guard Bureau. These gentlemen captured the audience's attention as questions poured in revolving around industry engagement with their respective programs. Their feedback about current and future solicitations helped industry understand their key mission requirements and needs.
Robert Thurston, director, Enterprise Support, Army G-4, gave an overview of the Army G-4 and outlined the path toward 'The Sustainment Enterprise,' which will revolve around leveraging cloud and big data. Thurston emphasized that a primary focus for the Army logistical community is to ensure data readiness and accessibility across the multiple echelons of the logistical community-enabling the force to perform from strategic, operational and tactical points of view. Like the previous speakers, Thurston reinforced a key factor in streamlining the enterprise is to be able to support MDO now and in the future. This enterprise modernization effort, called 'Enterprise Business Systems - Convergence,' or 'EBS-C,' will enable decision makers at all operational levels to be more effective. Gen. Morrison complemented the themes of previous speakers and panelists. Gen. Morrison clarified that the unified network is an operational framework that will align capabilities, techniques, procedures and supporting efforts to synchronize and integrate the Army's enterprise and tactical modernization efforts. Gen. Morrison summarized the three pillars the Army will focus on as their contributions to supporting the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) efforts. Those three pillars are:
1. Army 365
2. Army Data Plan
3. Army Cloud Plan
Within these pillars, the Army is championing such efforts as the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiative, proper hybrid cloud frameworks, appropriate data fabrics and proper alignment with joint operations. Gen. Morrison reinforced that all of this will be critical to the Army's success when facing near-peer adversaries.
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) panel featured Maj. Gen. Garrett Yee, USA, assistant to the director of DISA; Stephen Wallace, chief technology officer, DISA; and Jason Martin, director, Digital Capabilities and Security Center (DCSC). Gen. Yee and his panelists discussed DISA's five priorities, 'SPA' days (internal efforts to cleanse the organization of redundant efforts or waste) and Thunderdome. The Thunderdome initiative, as Wallace noted, acknowledges that DISA needs to advance the way they approach network defense. The security landscape has changed, and the segmented mid-tier approach is not as effective as it was 10 years ago. Martin also highlighted how he works across the organization, in close coordination with Gen. Yee and Wallace, to procure nearly $3 billion of products and services annually. The solicitation for Thunderdome is utilizing an other-transaction-authority approach, and this effort will fundamentally change network security and agency operations both inside and outside of DISA.
Michael Arnold, deputy director, Talent Management Task Force, Army G-1, described the Talent Management Task Force and its objectives over the next few years. Arnold highlighted three important reasons for creating a data-rich talent management system:
1. America can no longer depend on historical advantages
2. An increasingly larger and well-connected population is driving an unprecedented pace of change in the way that the Army manages soldiers based on commercial practices
3. America's distinct advantage must become how it maximizes its talent pools.
With a timeframe of accomplishing the task force's goals by 2035, Arnold and team are excited to continue to drive the Army toward becoming a more data-driven organization and increasing the use of analytics to better audit the use and effectiveness for commanders and soldiers in the field. Arnold shared a breakdown of how data and analytics will be used to predict what might happen and how models are being used to recommend more effective courses of action. The goal is to close the gap between the data and decision making so the decisions made by the Army leaders and soldiers are based on solid information. Arnold closed with a call to action to industry partners requesting assistance about data management techniques, insights about how to expedite the authority to operate (ATO) processes, robust user training solutions and how to use metadata solutions.
Jose Arrieta, founder, Imagineer, introduced the data panel and noted he wanted to touch on three topics: integration of data, anomaly analysis and changing culture as it relates to the modernization of a large data ecosystem. David Markowitz, Army chief data officer and analytics officer, kicked off the discussion by addressing how people, skill sets and culture were three priorities for the Army. Data and cloud operations have been a huge focus for the last two years, and the hope is to improve how the Army sees itself. Walton Cheung, chief data officer, USACE, echoed the sentiments of Markowitz of building partnerships within the U.S. Defense Department, federal agencies and state and local entities. USACE leaders are all in agreement on the importance of building data-driven solutions to support their critical decision-making processes. Markowitz highlighted reducing the size of the data landscape and establishing, as Arrieta referred to it, 'an easy button.' Six months into onboarding, Cheung is excited about his role and looking forward to educating key USACE mission/business areas about data use, as well as creating a data governance structure.
The Electronic Warfare (EW) Panel was moderated by Chuck Griffith, member of the Army IT Day Planning Committee. Elizabeth Bledsoe, product manager (PM), Aberdeen Proving Ground, PEO Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, is the PM for the EWPMT program. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Zachary Cervantes, USA, electromagnetic warfare technician, spoke about the posturing of manning and equipping the force as new EW units and formations are stood up across the Army. Col. Mark Dotson, USA (Ret.), director, Army Strategy, AnaVation LLC., highlighted working with big data and intelligence (data) across the full spectrum of cyber operations. Col. Daniel Holland, USA, CDID Cyber, spoke to the spectrum situational awareness system and the active cyber defense documents for the modular EMS system, a high-altitude EW NAVWAR system, and finally a small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) EW capability within the air launch defects system. Col. Holland challenged industry partners to bring pre-prototypes to Army events to better set expectations for Army senior leaders. Alan Rosner, program manager, Joint Spectrum Center, Defense Spectrum Organization, at DISA, explained the purpose of electromagnetic Battle Management (EMBM) as a program and how important it will be to work together with the Army. Rosner spoke about the need for the Defense Department to use modern capabilities and tools to enable rapid decision making. The increased information will better inform the warfighter on the battlefield.
Dake closed the conference by highlighting how the Army acquisition community was maturing their focus in support of the Army modernization missions. She reaffirmed how important it is for the contracting process to support aggressive modernization to maintain an advantage compared to near-peer competitors. Accurate data and the ability to quickly determine key trends and issues are fundamental to an effective acquisition process.
In conclusion, each speaker at the 2022 Army IT Day delivered valuable insight into key initiatives directly addressing the theme of the day. Important initiatives such as the ADTS, unifying the Army's network, becoming 'the Sustainment Enterprise' via the EBS-C initiative, synchronizing and integrating the Army's enterprise and tactical modernization efforts in a cohesive manner and leveraging both digital capabilities as well as digital enablers to make this happen are all examples of how the Army is striving to support Joint MDO now and in the future. The chapter would like to thank everyone who participated in the event for their insight, the audience members for tuning in and the sponsors for making this all happen. Please be sure to check out the chapter website, https://nova.afceachapters.org/, for upcoming events.
|
