GROW, BORROW, RECRUIT, AND REORGANIZE: HOW THE MILITARY CAN GET THE PERSONNEL IT NEEDS FOR DIGITAL WAR
Megan O'Keefe | 06.09.22
Grow, Borrow, Recruit, and Reorganize: How the Military Can Get the Personnel It Needs for Digital War
Editor’s note: This article is part of the series “Compete and Win: Envisioning a Competitive Strategy for the Twenty-First Century.” The series endeavors to present expert commentary on diverse issues surrounding US competitive strategy and irregular warfare with peer and near-peer competitors in the physical, cyber, and information spaces. The series is part of the Competition in Cyberspace Project (C2P), a joint initiative by the Army Cyber Institute and the Modern War Institute. Read all articles in the series here.
Special thanks to series editors Capt. Maggie Smith, PhD, C2P director, and Dr. Barnett S. Koven.
“Americans have not yet grappled with just how profoundly the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution will impact our economy, national security, and welfare.”
That’s how former Google chairman Eric Schmidt and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, the chair and vice chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), opened their letter introducing the commission’s final report, released last year. Despite regular news stories about how various government entities are endeavoring to include AI and other technologies into their existing operations, the military is in a similar place to the rest of American society. Recently, two scholars working with the military on AI, Brandon Leshchinskiy and Andrew Bowne, said total cultural change was necessary for the military to embrace future warfare. They specifically argued that the military could not continue to apply incremental fixes to a problem that required greater creativity. At the heart of the new and creative solutions this challenge requires is managing talent.
Both the Department of Defense and the individual services have taken steps to address the problem. For example, the US Army Cyber Center of Excellence focuses on the development of doctrine. The military created the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to assist senior leaders with the operational preparedness relating to the impacts of AI. Additionally, West Point’s applied statistics and data science major allows students to gain an education aligned with the requirements identified by the NSCAI, as do the scholarships for the National Digital Reserve Corps (NDRC), under the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). A pilot program for cyber officers in ROTC was announced in May 2022. Ultimately, the ideal in the future is a United States Digital Service Academy (USDSA) to address critical gaps for the military over the long term. The creation of the NDRC and USDSA—both NSCAI recommendations—allows service in the government to be part-time. But none of these ideas address the very real short- and medium-term needs of the military to confront increasingly digital warfare. To do so, the Department of Defense should take action in four key areas: growing, borrowing, and recruiting talent, and reorganizing to produce the workforce needed to meet the demands of digital war.
https://mwi.usma.edu/grow-borrow-recruit-and-reorganize-how-the-military-can-get-the-personnel-it-needs-for-digital-war/
