Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/1498834
to put everyone on the same page, which is now complete. We're extremely proud of it because the goals, benefits and pathways to success are clear to anyone who reads it, regardless of rank or technical savvy. And I think the language in the conclud- ing paragraph of the strategic document is on point: the Army we have is not the Army we need. The consensus is that our lack of a rela- tionship with digital technology is a major contributor to the state of our armed forc- es. And it's a precarious position to be in for two reasons: a quickly destabilizing world necessitating the kind of interoperability with our allies we currently don't have; and the speed of technological innovation that is putting us more behind every day. The strategic document addresses all this and more. We all have confidence in it. Q In the strategic document, one of the recommendations was to create a Chief Digital Officer role. Can you explain the responsibilities of this job as you see it? Yes. It's evolved a bit to be called the Di- rectorate of Digital and Army Combat Systems Integration, or DDACSI. Essentially, that group is responsible for orchestrating the transformation described in the digital strategy, and then realizing the goals and outcomes. They'll act as the hub of transformation, touching all areas of the army. Concurrently, DDACSI will be responsi- ble for looking ahead to what we are going to need in the future from a digitization perspective, and they'll be responsible for setting our entire armed forces up for suc- cess. It's a massive undertaking. But the key to the job, I think, is to lead a culture change. I think that's even more important because it will affect how we see and prioritize authorities, responsibilities, and accountabilities. In the military structure, we're good at knowing where our lanes are and how to stay in them. Laying a foundation of flex- ibility into our approach to this mission is the first important step, and that's what we've done. We're trying to ensure that we're set up for success and that our sol- diers are set up for success, and that our successors can build upon what we do. But it will be a work in progress to evolve the specific authorities, responsibilities, and accountabilities because I know our indus- try partners will have questions at the out- set as we set up our processes. For the Land Command, Control, Communications, www.vanguardcanada.com APRIL/MAY 2023 19 I N T E R V I E W CANADIAN ARMY