New Army Data Operation Center will be ‘9-1-1’ for moving info around the globe

WASHINGTON — The Army is readying the establishment of a new data operations center poised to be the clearinghouse for moving information across the world.

“We’re embarking on something new and bold in the Army, what is called the Army Data Operation Center,” Lt. Gen. Jeth Rey, deputy chief of staff, G6, said during an AUSA webinar Thursday. “How do we move data from our partners to our joint forces to our [combatant commands]? How do we actually move that data? 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 teased the idea at the end of last year, noting that if data is the new ammunition, the service needs to have a better handle on how to get it to the right places during the fog of war.

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The entity needs to have a global reach as well, helping move 1s and 0s up and down echelons because the Army fights globally. The service has worked over the past several years to get away from siloed, theater-based networks to a truly global network where forces can have access to information en route and once on the ground.

“Data management problem. That’s the issue. We have tons of data … [but] it’s siloed,” he said today. “If we’re going to become a data-centric environment, then we have to understand where our data is, what is the authoritative source, how we’re tagging and labeling data, how we’re using attribute based access control to get to the data and then how we’re using that data to inform decisions, to get decision dominance so that we can have that one up over our adversary.”

Today Rey didn’t dive into how the ADOC would fit into the Pentagon’s broader data-sharing vision known as Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2), but noted the Army would be contributing to CJADC2 through its in-development Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) effort, specifically its data layer. In October, Rey suggested such an data organization could play a role in “oversee[ing] that exchange of data, not only within the Army, but all of the joint services and our coalition partners.”

Rey declined to say when the new center will stand up officially, but said there will be a roll out in a “few weeks.” Currently, the Army is looking to identify the personnel and talent needed inside the ADOC, from uniformed to civilians, engineers and others.

Rey said he’s excited what the ADOC will bring not just the Army, but the broader joint force, saying it’s “going to evolve to something that the Department of War is going to potentially embark on at a later date,” using the administration’s preferred name for the Department of Defense.