NORTHCOM wants millions more for AI and data handling

U.S. Northern Command has asked Congress for an additional $29.8 million to buy information technology equipment and to optimize infrastructure for artificial intelligence and machine learning at its joint operations center with the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The upgrades would buttress efforts to ingest, process and aggregate data across the Department of Defense's cloud-computing environment and share intel with forces across all domains, also known as the "information dominance enabling capability," according to a fiscal year 2023 unfunded priority list obtained by Defense News. Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of NORTHCOM and NORAD, told lawmakers March 24 that "advanced capabilities" like AI will help give the U.S. an advantage over complex competitors. "Incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning into existing capabilities will allow users to pull needed information from existing data sets and share that data with leaders at all levels to expand their decision space and options necessary to achieve desirable outcomes," VanHerck said in testimony submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Combatant commands and other leaders send wishlists to the Hill annually.