{"id":17862,"date":"2021-05-29T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/29\/the-ability-to-share-data-could-prove-key-to-deterring-and-defeating-adversaries\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:42:07","slug":"the-ability-to-share-data-could-prove-key-to-deterring-and-defeating-adversaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2021\/05\/29\/the-ability-to-share-data-could-prove-key-to-deterring-and-defeating-adversaries\/","title":{"rendered":"The ability to share data could prove key to deterring and defeating adversaries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This month, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. signed a document that could help form the foundation of success in future warfare. He approved the Air Force\u2019s first-ever Advanced Battle Management System<\/a> campaign plan as a playbook to achieving \u201cdecision superiority\u201d in support of the Department of Defense\u2019s Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen. Brown identified eight war-fighting capabilities the Air Force and Space Force must develop to achieve decision superiority: data sharing; human capital development; distributed decision-making; advanced communications; advanced sensing; integrated planning; command and control of convergence of effects; and accelerated decision-making. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First among equals: data sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important we recognize the various applications of data to avoid creating a single data-sharing process that is either unusable by some or unnecessarily burdensome on the data-sharing infrastructure as a whole. Equally as important as understanding the elements of data sharing is how we get from today\u2019s stove-piped command-and-control systems to one which allows for the seamless movement of relevant data across domain, organization and national boundaries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data is the lifeblood of today\u2019s global economies and of national security. Recognizing how data reliance has contributed to changes in warfare, victory belongs to the side that can process and employ data fastest. We call this \u201cinformation advantage,\u201d and it yields decision superiority. Our readiness to deter and, if necessary, defeat a global power rests on our ability to share data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The imperative is to find ways to increase the speed and resilience of data. As vice chief of staff of the Air Force, Gen. David Allvin wrote in a recent commentary that the Air Force\u2019s approach to ABMS with the creation of fast, agile and resilient joint command and control is to connect and integrate all U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force capabilities<\/a> while ensuring we can connect to the joint force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through ABMS, we are answering this call by developing an approach that focuses on moving data and improving our ability to share it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving data requires the infrastructure to transport information from its source, often a sensor, across digital pipelines (terrestrial, airborne and space-based) to storage locations that allow ready access, whether in a command center or on the tactical edge. Sharing that information requires data tagging and characterization that make it discoverable and puts the data into a usable format to someone with approved access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As expected, moving data and making it shareable requires technical solutions and nontechnical solutions, like protection techniques and sharing policies. Improving our ability to share data reaches beyond the laboratory and demands a whole-of-DoD effort, which is why the Joint Requirements Oversight Council has taken on the job of driving coherency and unity across the military. This will standardize our approach in the pursuit of decision superiority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if moving and sharing data weren\u2019t complicated enough, effectively sharing data also requires the DoD to consider how to employ it.<\/p>\n\n\n\t