Deputy Army Chief Information Officer Highlights Foundation for AI
WASHINGTON (Sept. 2, 2026) – Dr. David Markowitz, chief data and analytics officer and Army deputy chief information officer, participated in a panel discussion focused on building effective artificial intelligence, or AI, capabilities during the Defense Strategies Institute, known as the DSI, AI for Defense Summit, Sept. 2.
Markowitz joined a panel titled, “Getting the Foundation Right: Data Management for AI,” during the fifth annual DSI AI for Defense Summit, where he discussed the Army’s progress in modernizing its data environment and the challenges that remain as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated across the force.
“We’re in about the sixth year of our data plan, and we’ve spent that time building the foundation,” said Markowitz. “We’ve made significant progress over the last few years, while also identifying gaps and challenges. We’ve built much of the foundation for unifying our network, expanding flexible cloud computing, and providing easy-to-use low-code and no-code capabilities. We’re also establishing a robust data layer across our intelligence and enterprise missions and now extending that foundation to warfighting communications through next-generation command and control.”
The discussion moved towards the growing role of agentic AI, which uses AI systems to perform tasks with greater levels of autonomy. Markowitz pointed to the Army’s cyber community as an example of how personnel with significant expertise can apply their understanding of processes to develop and evaluate AI agents.
“They recognize that training an agent is like training a Soldier,” Markowitz said. “You understand the process, establish the gates the algorithm needs to follow, evaluate how well it performs and then continue improving it.”
The Army is working to incorporate data and AI education into professional military education and other training environments, exposing personnel across career fields to the technologies and critical thinking skills needed to use them effectively.
“We’re not going to create a separate specialty for AI or data officers because we need those capabilities in intelligence, logistics and across the Army. It is so cross-cutting, and it is such a unique skill set, and we don't want to create its own unique community. We want that sharing. So, I think that's our challenge. You know, we're trying to build that kind of cross-reference, build a community of interest that can sort of feed off each other,” said Markowitz.
The path forward for AI is strongly linked to the Army’s broader data modernization efforts. Building trusted data sources, improving governance, establishing clear accountability and developing a workforce capable of applying AI within its respective domains will be essential to realizing the technology’s potential.
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