36 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 www.vanguardcanada.com
C4ISR
T
he information domain is
one of the fastest-growing
areas within military opera-
tions. It's quickly becoming
the central theatre of strategic
competition, especially in this digital age,
where it's easy to come under cyberattacks
from numerous global hostile players.
How we fight
Given this precarious situation, the "How
We Fight" initiative is what helps define
how the Canadian Armed Forces will
compete, contest, confront, and combat
adversaries across all domains including
the information domain. But success in
pan-domain operations will require pan-
domain situational awareness (PDSA), ex-
plained BGen David Anderson, Director
General Readiness, Canadian Joint Op-
erations Command to over 200 attendees
at C4ISR and Beyond 2020 conference.
This, he said, will require an adaptation of
culture, structure, processes, and gover-
nance as it relates to AI, data management
and emerging technology.
BGen Anderson went on to say that ca-
pability is not the issue, but fusing aware-
ness of what's happening across all six
domains – land, air, sea, cyber, space and
information – is a massive problem.
So, how do we create a synchronized and
holistic approach to managing the deluge
of data that will accompany pan-domain
operations so that the CAF can adapt and
remain operationally relevant? A germane
question – and one that keeps BGen An-
derson up at night.
"I lay awake at night thinking about
PDSA and how we do that. I'm not sure
what that looks like," he said. But one
thing for certain, "we are protected from
the deluge of data right now because we
Managing thE dElugE oF data
BY MaRCEllo SukhdEo
BGen D.J. Anderson
Director General Readiness, CJOC
LGen D. Michael Day (Ret'd)
CMM, MSC, CD, MA
Sharon Woods
Director and Program Manager for the Cloud
Computing Program Office (CCPO) in the
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Office of
the Chief Information Officer
