DIA Chief Information Officer Douglas Cossa
The Defense Intelligence Agency’s Department of Defense Intelligence Information Systems Worldwide conference launched on Tuesday with talks by DoD and Intelligence Community leaders on innovation, adaptation and collaboration across the Defense Intelligence Enterprise.
DIA Chief Information Officer Douglas Cossa opened the conference with a discussion centered on streamlining data infrastructure while enhancing cybersecurity: “We're not just talking about things like AI and machine learning and attention on data. We're talking about the communication pipes, the wide area networks, the local area networks to actually get and transfer that data and move it to where it needs to go,” Cossa said.
"And as we look forward into strategic competition and how we need to prepare ourselves, needs to remain a critical component of that, because it is an enabler," Cossa clarified. "And it is, in many cases, the mission of what we do within the IC and the Department of Defense."
Cossa then focused on optimizing the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, the DoD’s and IC’s primary network for classified systems. He said, "it's about adding new cybersecurity, especially zero trust principles to it, but also looking into the future to how to make that network more autonomous, and that's really our focus on JWICS and how we bring that into the more modern era."
Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Dr. Stacey Dixon, Ph.D.
Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Stacey Dixon, Ph.D., underscored the importance of effective partnerships in countering current and future threats.
Dixon advocated for deeper technical collaboration between the DoD and IC, as DoD elements are integral parts of the IC as both producers and consumers of intelligence. Dixon said, “Data interoperability expands and enhances our relationship, changes it for the better and helps DIA fulfill its mission of providing intelligence on foreign militaries to prevent and decisively win wars.”
"We need to engage in radical collaboration so that we can best leverage all collected and acquired data throughout its lifecycle," Dixon said.
Dixon then challenged the audience to expand their collaborative worldview: “We must accelerate and expand our partnerships across organizations and among allies around the world to capture the inspiration and innovation that is nurtured there,” she said.
Worldwide collaboration is vital, said Dixon, to meeting future challenges posed by strategic competitors such as China. Dixon warned, “Beijing is a fierce competitor with a vision and a plan to influence the world and dominate the region surrounding it, including developing the capability to take control of a free and democratic Taiwan. For the Intelligence Community, they are the most consequential geopolitical challenge we face across all domains and regions.”
DoD Chief Information Officer John Sherman
DoD Chief Information Officer John Sherman gave an overview of how DoD capability development provides the warfighter with decision advantage.
Discussing capabilities emerging from National Defense Strategy, Sherman reminded the audience that DoD directs all technologies and partnerships to the warfighter. Sherman said, "It's really not just about clouds and all that, it's about decision advantage. It's about giving us world-class capability, to be able to make sure our forces are able to do what they have to do against a world-class pacing challenge, such as the PRC, Russia, or anyone else who seeks to do harm to this country."
Sherman then reminded the audience that, ultimately, people enable strategic advantage, noting, "All the technology in the world is nothing without people. People are our foundation: the women and men who make up our workforce, that come into DoD, whether it's military or civilian, and ensuring that we stay where we need to be."
People are also the source of innovation, and Sherman stressed the importance of recruiting a diverse and STEM-enabled workforce: "The innovation that bubbles up from the services, whether it's on cloud, or cybersecurity, or network or anything. We don't succeed without tapping into that."
NGA Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth discussed how remote combat capabilities shape the strategic advantage that NGA provides to the warfighter. Whitworth began with the importance of artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data to NGA’s mission, then emphasized the value of partnerships.
Whitworth said, “Today NGA, along with our partners across the DoD and IC, our allies, those whom we collaborate with in industry and academia, and our decision-makers impacting our policy – and on the battlefield – we are all grateful that you are here this week to help bring us to where we need to get tomorrow.”
DISA Director and Commander of Joint Force Headquarters-DODIN Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner
Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Commander of Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner took the stage in the afternoon with a talk on DISA and DODIN’s relationships within the DoD and IC and facilitating the components’ posture toward strategic competition.
Skinner said, "You gotta have a plan, and you got to be thinking two, three, four steps ahead to be successful - but it's moving those pieces and do we have the right training and expertise and the right abilities - to move those chess pieces to put the advantage always on our side."
Skinner used the example of integrated deterrence, a key element of the National Defense Strategy. "And you can't do that without allies and partners. You can't do that without jointness. And you can't do that without the folks in this room to include academia, to include industry," Skinner said.
Skinner emphasized the importance of people to innovation, advising on how the Defense Intelligence Enterprise can compete for IT talent: "If you can have an environment that people want to come to work, people want to be there. They understand the mission. They got... great teamwork, great leadership, and they're able to innovate and sometimes make mistakes. That's how you innovate. And that's how you get ahead."
"The innovation is united, and that's what's going to continue to make us powerful and continue to make us capable and successful in all we do," Skinner said.
IC Chief Information Officer Adele Merritt, Ph.D.
IC Chief Information Officer Adele Merritt, Ph.D., provided an overview of how the IC addresses challenges in transforming information technology and protecting the information environment.
Merritt located strategic challenges in the cyber domain: "Whether it's espionage, sabotage, or potentially pre-positioning for warfighting, nation states' increasing use of cyber operations as a tool to project power - including increasingly by militaries around the world - raises the prospect of... more destructive and disruptive cyber activities."
Merritt compared Federal, DoD and IC adaptions countering these threats to the early space program, where she noted that government, industry and academic partnerships were crucial to success. "Collaboration, enabled and empowered by information sharing, has been key to the successful addressing of the strategic challenges," she reflected.
Collaboration within the Defense Intelligence Enterprise, Merritt said, yields enormous strides in operability key to the IC’s success: "The modernization and protection of our [IC]'s information environment ensures... the IC's ability to discover, access and exploit data; to collaborate securely and effectively with our mission partners; and disseminate analysis to policymakers, warfighters and other key customers."
Noting that a trusted, agile and skilled workforce is a mission imperative for the intelligence community, Merritt emphasized diversity’s role in attracting and retaining talent. "It is essential that the IC foster diversity of thought, experience and background. This broadens all of our perspective. I'm proud to be part of the effort to strengthen the IC's workforce," she said.
Merritt continued, "I think it's one of the most important aspects of my job within the intelligence community and making the IC a welcoming place for everyone is essential to building the strongest possible workforce."
DoD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer Craig Martell, Ph.D.
DoD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer Craig Martell, Ph.D., the final speaker of the day, challenged commonly-held notions of AI’s role within the Defense Intelligence Enterprise, highlighting how his office provides data for experimentation and adaption across government, academia and industry.
Unlike expectations that AI produces autonomous capabilities, Martell reminded the audience that AI’s value lies in producing high-quality data effective for decision making at scale. That data feeds into modeling that is part of machine learning – where true capabilities form. Martell clarified, "Most of the things that people mean by AI is machine learning. Machine learning is AI that works."
Martell continued, "So it's incumbent upon us, as a centralized supporter of AI in the departments, to give you the tools, abilities, and consulting to be able to build that labeled data, so that you can hand it to industry and they can build a model that works for you."
Thus, DoD facilitates collaboration, with data as currency. "What we need to build inside the DoD, in a centralized way, is to help folks with getting labeled data right and being able to monitor the model after deployment," said Martell.
From data and interoperability to collaboration and talent, the first day of DODIIS 2022 featured plenary talks on solutions responding to the conference’s theme: transcending strategic competitors through innovation, adaptation and collaboration.