All Domain, Networks / Cyber

Lawmaker calls for ‘joint autonomy office’ in DoD’s CDAO to coordinate tech adoption

on May 17, 2023 at 2:55 PM
Rep. Rob Wittman Visits Afghans on Task Force Quantico

United States Representative Rob Wittman (center) of Virginia shakes the hand of Brig. Gen. Forrest Poole (right) on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Sept. 10, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Scott Jenkins)

Updated 5/15923 at 10:17 am ET with comment from Chief Digital and AI officer Craig Martell.

WASHINGTON — A proposed joint autonomy office within the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) could help the department coordinate and advance its adoption of autonomous technologies, according to the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. 

And while the creation of a new office within the CDAO, an organization stood up less than a year ago, raises the question of whether it adds onto bureaucracy within the department or just how much authority the office would have, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), said the office he’s envisioned in the legislation would act as a single place for how DoD resources and directs its autonomous technology efforts and policy. 

“We’ve seen in the Pentagon where there has been a movement towards autonomy at a faster pace than has happened in the past. But as in, again, part of the element of any large organization and bureaucracy, it’s still very fragmented,” Wittman said today during a keynote speech at Applied Intuition’s Nexus 23 event. “If we’re going to have unity and purpose, it needs to be in a single place… This bill allows that to happen.”

The Autonomous Systems Adoption and Policy Act, introduced by Wittman and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., on May 9, seeks to establish a joint autonomy office within the CDAO “to accelerate development and delivery of autonomy technology and programs for United States military operations.” 

According to the bill, the office would specifically provide a platform for all-domain autonomy testing, a DoD-wide framework for classifying autonomous capabilities and ways to “standardize the planning, resourcing, and integration efforts with respect to autonomous capabilities for current and future systems across the DoD.” 

Wittman said the legislation will also help DoD assure it is applying autonomous technologies in the right ways, instead of “just being applied in a spot treatment way.”

“We want to make sure it’s put out there across the board,” he said. “Autonomy holds great promise in many different systems and we don’t want it to be limited by how one service branch sees autonomy… So this opens up the aperture for autonomy to really have a much broader application within DoD. It also assures that the questions that need to be asked … are asked up front, so that DoD can get in front of where the technology is going.”

Speaking to reporters after his keynote, Wittman said the legislation was shaped by conversations he’s had with people in the Pentagon and industry, though he didn’t mention if he’d spoken with the current CDAO Craig Martell. Wittman added that the bill will be packaged with the annual National Defense Authorization Act. Spokespeople for the CDAO didn’t provide a response to Breaking Defense’s request for comment for this report as of publication.

“We’ve had some preliminary conversations with folks to help us shape the legislation, so I think they’re situationally aware of the things that we’re trying to do,” he said.  “I think [the joint autonomy office] is needed…and I know that there’s sometimes a parochialness that creeps in and goes, ‘No…don’t worry about it, we’ve got it.’ 

“I think it has to be elevated,” he continued. “So I think it’s good to have somebody at the policy level in Congress to say, ‘No, we’ve got to push the envelope with this because status quo is not going to do it.'”

CDAO Craig Martell told Breaking Defense following the publication of this story that the office “maintains an open line of communication with Congressional offices, and we welcome an opportunity to engage with Rep. Wittman and others on proposed roles for CDAO.”

“CDAO is developing AI/ML services, tools, and pipelines to guide DoD development of AI and autonomy, and these activities are closely aligned with our interpretation of the intent behind the legislation,” Martell said May 19. 

Topics

, , , , , ,

Exit mobile version