Army to stand up new center that’s ‘going to be like the 9-1-1 for how we move data,’ general says
The Army’s top officer focused on networks said the service is standing up a new data operations center that will better manage the massive quantity of information the modern military has accumulated — from the top, down to the field.
Lt. Gen. Jeth Rey, deputy chief of staff for the G-6, called the Army Data Operation Center a “new and bold” venture for the service during a cyber webinar Thursday. Rey said the military does not have an issue with data itself, but “what we have is a data management problem,” and the new center aims to fix that.
As the Pentagon increasingly employs info-hungry AI systems and quickens the flow of information in an attempt to help leaders make decisions, the efficient management of data has become paramount to military officials. Over the last few years, Army leaders have decried “siloed” data systems they say keep information flows bogged down.
“How do we move data from our partners to our joint forces to our [combatant commands]? How do we actually move that data?” Rey said. “This Army Data Operations Center is going to fuse that together. It’s going to be like the 9-1-1 for how we move data.”
Rey did not specify when the center would officially stand up, but that “we’re going to do a rollout of the ADOC in a few weeks.”
Breaking Defense reported that last year Rey said data was becoming “really our ammunition,” teasing the concept of an organization that would oversee its management across the Army.
Rey said that the potential for ADOC could expand beyond the Army, possibly to the Pentagon. Right now, the Army is in the process of looking across the service to identify personnel for the center, such as engineers.
“Over the next six months, as we stand this thing up, it’s going to play out on what the future looks like and how we expand along the way,” Rey said. “So we’re totally excited about what it brings for the future.”
