WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has tapped David Markowitz to be the service’s new chief data officer, C4ISRNET has learned.

An Army spokesperson told C4ISRNET that Markowitz started this week. He steps into the role previously filled by Greg Garcia, who served as both the chief data officer and deputy chief information officer.

Garcia continues to serve as acting CIO, as the Army continues its search for someone to fill its top IT slot after the retirement of Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford. The service recently split its CIO/G-6 office into two separate offices with the G-6 position filled by Lt. Gen. John Morrison.

Markowitz previously worked in the Army’s G-8 office, where he served as assistant deputy chief of staff.

In his new role, Markowitz will be the service’s top data official at a time when the Army is looking to enable multi-domain operations, an effort that can only be made possible with massive amounts of data transferred between sensors and shooters. He is also taking over just weeks after the service completed a massive experiment in Arizona to test emerging capabilities that will enable multi-domain operations.

Markowitz will also work with his counterparts at other services to enable what the Army is calling Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or CJADC2, as the services look to link their sensors and shooters, while adding in joint partners across the globe. The Army and Air Force recently announced a two-year collaboration on CJADC2, starting with developing mutual data-sharing standards and service interfacing by the end of fiscal 2022.

In addition, expect close collaboration his counterpart at the Defense Department, Dave Spirk, who recently said he wants to meet with all the data leaders across the department as the DoD enterprise works to use data to enable joint warfighting and increase the speed of data-driven decision making for commanders. The DoD released its data strategy last week.

About Andrew Eversden

Andrew Eversden covers all things defense technology for C4ISRNET. He previously reported on federal IT and cybersecurity for Federal Times and Fifth Domain, and worked as a congressional reporting fellow for the Texas Tribune. He was also a Washington intern for the Durango Herald. Andrew is a graduate of American University.

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