Enabling Artificial Intelligence at the Combatant Commands

The Department of Defense's Office of the Chief Information Officer, or DoD CIO, is pursuing several efforts to make sure the U.S. combatant commands have the fundamental tools to enable artificial intelligence and machine learning to aid their operational command and control. The DoD CIO's efforts naturally hinge on data and data management, an appropriate transport layer and future cloud capabilities, solutions that will benefit a broad range of warfighters not just at the commands, said Kelly Fletcher, who is performing the duties of the department's chief information officer on behalf of John Sherman, the nominated CIO who is currently going through his confirmation process for the position and testifying tomorrow in front of the U.S. Senate. A senior executive service official, Fletcher has been working in the office since 2020. She presented a keynote address during AFCEA International's TechNet Cyber conference in Baltimore on October 27. Fletcher emphasized that the DoD CIO's office supports more than 40 major combatant commands, services and agencies, "and they all have unique requirements," she said.