The Australian government will create a new data division and appoint a chief data integration officer (CDIO) as part of a new cyber security plan announced by Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie on Wednesday (4 August). “Whether we like it or not, we are joined in an online contest to preserve our digital sovereignty as a country,” Hastie said in announcing the plan. “Therefore, lifting Defence’s data maturity across the organisation will position us to achieve a strategic advantage over our adversaries.”
Hastie said that remaining competitive with other nation states would depend on “trusted and secure” data and Defence’s ability to operationalise that data “at speed and scale”, according to media reports. “We know that information and data underpins all effective military operations and decision-making,” he said. “Good data is the life blood of game-changing warfighting technologies, such as automated systems and artificial intelligence. If we are to benefit from those technologies, we need to rapidly lift our data maturity.”
The strategy outlines 27 initiatives across five pillars (govern, trust, discover, use and share) that cover all structured and unstructured data in Defence. The 27 initiatives place a heavy emphasis on embedding a “strong data culture” across the organisation by uplifting data management and improving data literacy. Central to this is the creation of the CDIO role to take on enterprise data management and lead the implementation of the data strategy initiatives. The CDIO will report to Defence Force chief Angus Campbell and Defence secretary Greg Moriarty and the department’s enterprise committees.
Marcus Thompson, a senior advisor for Macquarie Telecom Group and former head of Information Warfare for the Australian Defence Force said, “Creating a new Data Division and appointing a Chief Data Integration Officer is a welcome and necessary move by Defence. It’s unclear at this stage what future AI capabilities may emerge in a defence context. However, it is clear that future AI capabilities will be ineffective if not informed by the right data. That means introducing data policies now so that data is labelled, stored and managed in a manner that will support emerging and future technology – whatever that may be. The focus of the Chief Data Integration Officer must centre on warfighting technologies. China has declared its goal to be the world leader in AI, and our military capability must give our soldiers, sailors and aviators the ability to survive and win in potential future conflicts, where cyber-enabled capabilities will be pivotal. That means any Chief Data Integration Officer should be a military officer to keep the focus where we need it. This appointment signals the high importance that Defence places on data. There is so much to do now to properly enable future warfighting capability.”
Download the strategy document here.
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