Vanguard Magazine

I N T E R V I E W www.vanguardcanada.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2024 19 around C2. We will do a whole bunch of trial and error and iterative development with the integration of data, integration of networks, integration of systems, funda- mentally going back to how that activity is improving the decision-making capability of senior leaders of the Canadian Forces at that operational level. Q So, would you say that the Warfare Centre is all about building critical think- ing skills, and then helping transplant them throughout various divisions of the CAF? Is that a fair statement? Yes, I think we are. We are helping peo- ple who already have elements of these skills refine their processes to work more effectively. For example, we have a part- nership with the Canadian Army in Regi- ment. They are doing a lot of stuff in the innovation space. They have intelligence collection and processing processes, and we've shown them some different tools integrated with different data. That has allowed them to increase their efficiency tenfold, and that change is happening be- cause we're giving them access to different applications and data sets that are condi- tioned in a different way. We try not to get too technical. As you know, just doing a big dump of data doesn't help intelligence people. The question becomes how you condition that data and create a better repository of information. By making them more user- friendly, you can streamline your intelli- gence processing. Previously, five or six manual steps might have been necessary, but with the computer handling those in the background, we can now achieve a more efficient process. And so, some- one may only need days instead of a week to learn how to use a system that can do all these things. We've taken people who have never used a tool before to being fairly proficient in about 30 minutes. Suddenly they can do 10 times more in- telligence processing and that's why this is important. As you know, there are not enough intelligence analysts working to- day in the Canadian Forces. If I can make the current level of output of intelligence analysts today 10 times better, then in theory, I don't need 10 more people to do that work. Q I think that's important because innovation is all about creating value and I know that the CJWC is all about developing processes that bring value to those who you serve. Are there initia- tives in this area you can talk about? There are some big bumper sticker ones like de-risking the National Defence Op- erations and Intelligence Centre. That's a 10-year plan and one that's hard to easily define. I often jokingly say that if we just hung a banner outside our new building that says anyone who uses PowerPoint will be shot on site, and if everyone believes we're serious about it, then we'll very quickly figure out how not to use PowerPoint. I should stress this isn't about any personal issues with Microsoft Office products. It's not that at all. It's all about the processes behind why we get stuck. It's the process behind our discomfort with briefing off anything other than a PowerPoint slide or the proverbial 11x17 paper placemat that we print out and instantaneously provide people with data that's not real time. We don't have a comfort in real-time brief- ings. That's an institutional challenge and I think lots of people are facing it. Now, are there technological solutions for that? Absolutely there are. Are they integrated into the CAF very well? No, they're not. Part of what we do in that space is to figure out what the Command- er of CJOC of today needs, but also what the Commander CJOC or the Command- er of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command needs 10 years from now. And in the meantime, how do I make that Commander comfortable over the next 10 years? They have been part of the iterative development decision loop shrinking pro- cess for 10 years. Every day I think about what my current commander does, how he processes data personally and how he thinks. It's different because of the way he came through the Canadian forces then someone who's just starting as a 20-year- old today. This is an important point. There's a dif- ference between people who were born at the onset of computers compared to those born after. I grew up with the Internet as Military personnel participate in a virtual exercise using one of the Joint Battle Labs at the Canadian Joint Warfare Centre located in Ottawa, Ontario. Photo: DND

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