(US & Canada) VIDEO | We’re Driving Towards a Data-Centric Army — US Army Signal School CDO

Capt. Derrick Kozlowski, Chief Data Officer of the U.S. Army Signal School, speaks with Katya Mijatovic, Principal Data Scientist at Data Society and CDO Magazine Editorial Board Member, about recruiting and upskilling staff and his approach to implementing new technologies.

Mijatovic interviewed Kozlowski on the sidelines of the recently conducted AFCEA CeVA Data Centric Summit.

Speaking about a key takeaway for summit attendees, Kozlowski says that the Signal School is heavily invested in upskilling and educating signal soldiers in data literacy, data engineering, data education, cloud, and zero trust. He says that the goal is to ensure that all signal soldiers are prepared to answer the demands of the next needs of their commanders.

Next, Kozlowski speaks about balancing recruitment and upskilling staff and says that the school trains around 15,000 soldiers annually and incorporates the best training and education they need for driving toward a data-centric army.

Responding to Mijatovic’s question about dealing with the rapid shifts in technology and adopting the relevant ones, Kozlowski says that it all ties into operational readiness, ensuring that users have the right tools and skills that commanders need to go to war today.

He elaborates that while the school provides as much new content as possible to the students, it also considers the older and more used equipment.

It is important to ensure that the soldiers are proficient in the equipment they have on hand. Kozlowski further says that the school is starting to build emerging technology blocks to start teaching about them.

Highlighting a key technology that made a significant difference in the past ten years, Kozlowski mentions small form factor satellites, on-the-move kits, and smaller routers and switches.

He further speaks about the wireless capabilities, and the ability to set up a kit anywhere in the world in under five minutes, compared to the ones that take around an hour to set up.

In conclusion, Kozlowski mentions a technology he is most looking forward to implementing.

He says that as the army shifts the approach to fighting and transitions to a unified network holistically, it would be important to implement and drive a zero-trust framework for all compliance and security mechanisms to protect and defend the network properly. He also highlights the need to upskill and educate soldiers in that zero-trust environment.

CDO Magazine appreciates Capt. Derrick Kozlowski for sharing his insights with our global community.