August Chapter Luncheon Hosts Director of C4, USSTRATCOM

In August, Elizabeth Durham-Ruiz, director, Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems, and chief information officer, U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, shared her thoughts with the chapter on how STRATCOM is making use of artificial intelligence (AI) to aid the warfighter. Durham-Ruiz took a moment to reflect and pointed out she has been a huge supporter/advocate for AFCEA for many years.

Durham-Ruiz talked about how AI can be used to assist the workforce and with decision-making. A key mission for USSTRATCOM is ensuring they remain in constant contact with nuclear forces. She discussed how their J65 office was stood up over three years ago with the first chief data officer to make key decisions about governance of data. The challenge was looking at how they could integrate AI and provide value to the command and the warfighter. She commented on Gen. Anthony Cotton's vision for AI-how AI will always have a human in the loop, but it can be used to augment decision-making. She clarified the imperative to adhere to the commander's vision; to get it right, they must do a lot of testing. Durham-Ruiz pointed out how the chief data officer's role remained in the J6 at STRATCOM, but she's seen that role be stood up in different areas. It depends on the organization and what works best. She expanded on their current campaign to make the command AI-ready and how it's been a challenge. She also commented on the seven pillars of the STRATCOM AI strategy document, starting with the government policy. She concluded by stating that J6 is looking for new talent-people who can think strategically and differently about AI-and they are also looking for the commercial industry to step up with new AI approaches and capabilities.

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