On the morning of August 14, 2024 at Fort Eustis, Virginia, military minds gathered to discuss ways to harness data with the goal of enhancing field commanders’ control of the battlefield.
At the Army Data Analytics and Management I-Plan meeting, attendees included senior military leaders, defense contractors, data scientists, systems engineers, and other cyber specialists—all from the United States as well as from Allies—at the Training and Doctrine Command Headquarters.
Leading the opening session was Dr. David Markowitz, the Army’s Chief Data and Analytics Officer.
“The Army is in a big moment of change,” started Dr. Markowitz, as he introduced the challenge of “how well we actually understand the data behind how we do ‘control.’”
With the increasing availability of data and imprecise promise of Artificial Intelligence, the concept of “control” becomes more elusive each day. According to Army Field Manual 6-0, Commander and Staff Organization and Operations, “control” is the “regulation of forces and battlefield operating systems to accomplish the mission in accordance with the commander’s intent.” That same field manual defines “command” as “the authority that a commander in the armed forces lawfully exercises over subordinates by virtue of rank or assignment.” Joint Publication 1, Doctrine for the Armed Forces of United States, couples the concepts, defining “command and control” as “the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission.”
Markowitz, with brutal honesty, acknowledged current mismatches between needs and capabilities.
“It is not clear if the data models we have are robust to support this type of transition.” Markowitz even cited, “a bunch of siloed battle command systems” with “no connection” between them.
Toward the end of his introduction, Markowitz challenged his attendees. “The question is: what controls really exist the way our doctrine wants?”
That is the question which the great minds will tackle this week at Fort Eustis—and surely beyond.
Social Sharing