Former Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the U.S. Army and Vice President and Partner at A.T. Kearney in Aerospace & Defense and Public Sector Practices, General Jeffrey Sorenson, spoke with WashingtonExec about federal IT, budget restraints and mobility in the military.
General Sorenson served in the military for 37 years – including 20 years in senior executive positions.
In his interview with WashingtonExec, General Sorenson reflects on his time with the U.S. Army, how and why big data is dratsically changing the intelligence community, as well as the importance of secure mobile devices for warfighters.
We also asked General Sorenson for his predictions regarding tigthening federal IT budgets and “what keeps him up at night.”
WashingtonExec: Could you tell us a little more about your background and how you got to A.T. Kearney?
General Sorenson: I recently retired from the Army after 37 years. For the last twenty plus years, I was a program manager of several Army technology systems — everything from tactical and signal intelligence systems to the Army’s Night Vision Program which comprised lasers, image intensification goggles, thermal sensors, and radars; to being the Program Executive Officer for tactical missiles which included a portfolio missiles from shoulder launched to aviation rockets to ground launched systems that could hit targets 400 kilometers with precision guidance systems. I was also the Senior Military Executive to the DoD Under Secretary for Acquisition for a year and worked as the Deputy for System Management for the Army Acquisition Executive before becoming the Army’s CIO with responsibility for all Army network and radio systems.
As I left the Army I thought about applying my lessons learned from managing technology programs to help industry and the government improve the way in which they procured capability. I was fortunate that one day somebody called me up from A.T. Kearney and said that they would like to talk to me.
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I hadn’t heard of A.T. Kearney before, but when I saw how they were leveraging commercial best business practices to help government become more efficient, I was sold.”
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WashingtonExec: How would you say your time in the Army prepared you for your role at A.T. Kearney?
General Sorenson: I think my program management experience was helpful. I also think my Army experience working in teams was also beneficial. One of the key pillars at A.T. Kearney is they are a collaborative organization. The firm is global with about 2,700 consultants in 38 countries and 56 offices – each office is a small, select group of people. In order to solve complex problems, it requires a lot of teamwork, partnership, and collaboration which in many cases was very similar to my Army experience. My success in the Army wasn’t me; it was the team. If you just take a look and read the Soldier’s creed – mission first, never accept defeat, never quit, never leave a comrade behind – it is all about teamwork. I think that is a hallmark of this firm and one that I found to be extraordinarily appealing, primarily because of my experience with Army values and standards.
WashingtonExec: Jumping to the issue of big data – how do you think that is changing the intelligence community today?
General Sorenson: In terms of how it is changing the intelligence community, I think it is truly extraordinary. On the battlefield today we have a proliferation of data sensors that has resulted in an explosion of intelligence data. A perfect example would be all the streaming video from various sensor systems that has to be analyzed, cataloged and distributed. From the standpoint of improving our warfighting capabilities, big data is a huge step forward in helping us analyze an exponential increase in data in order to better assess the adversary. This is more important today as compared to the past when we typically would define an enemy by their national identity and physical border versus today where we fight non-state actors who have no physical boundaries in the virtual world and, who by the way, are developing cyber weapon capabilities to attack us. In order to find this new enemy and assess their capabilities, the intelligence community is challenged today with the amount of data and information they have to sift through in order to figure out what is going on with a lot of these non-nation state actors. So, big data and improved analytics will fundamentally change our intelligence capabilities in the future.
WashingtonExec: What do you think are some misconceptions that people have about big data?
General Sorenson: Everybody tends to characterize big data by the three V’s – volume, velocity and variety. When you begin to look at big data, the biggest misconception from my perspective is the extraordinary challenge to use cloud based analytics to look at all of the data being gathered, analyze it in real time and provide timely information to a field commander.
However, if we take a look at how the retail sector uses big data today to make real-time inventory and pricing decisions, there are probably a number of commercial lessons learned that would help improve the way the intelligence community could tackle their big data problem. That is a perfect example of what I see our firm doing to leverage commercial best business practices to solve government problems.
WashingtonExec: What are some challenges that you foresee in the coming year in terms of utilizing big data analytics and the federal government?
General Sorenson: I think two of the major challenges for big data analytics in the government sector are privacy and security. An example of this challenge would be the Lieberman cyber security bill that was most recently defeated on the Hill. When you really start looking at the challenges here of analyzing big data there are clearly some privacy and data security issues that have to be addressed. I think the biggest difference is that in the past, applications used to drive what data was going to be used, but now we have data driving applications. That is a huge paradigm shift and will require new thought and ideas for managing security and privacy of big data in the future.
WashingtonExec: What would you say excites you about the future and what’s ahead?
General Sorenson: I think as we look forward we’re going to see some huge, monumental shifts that will make data more available and more readily usable by the consumer. In this case, I am using consumer to mean those in the private sector as well as the military.
I also think if you look at the military, I am very enthused by the fact that we continue to invest in, not only our warfighting system capabilities, but also our personnel and the advanced development of their IT skill sets in the areas of data security as well as defense of networks.
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Our future military cannot conduct operations without a robust, well protected network. What I have observed is that our future warfighter’s ability to defend and, at some point in time, conduct cyber warfare, is truly impressive.”
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WashingtonExec: If you could change one aspect of the federal procurement and acquisition process either in the Army or in defense in general what would it be?
General Sorenson: We need to change the budget process. What I think is absolutely necessary is modifying the procurement acquisition processes so that we can procure IT on a real time basis. As it is right now, I cannot forecast 18 months forward exactly what my IT needs are going to be, yet that is the budget process we have to comply with today.
From my perspective, the regulations related to procuring IT are outdated – we can’t procure IT like we procure tanks, airplanes or large weapon systems. The procurement of IT has to be more flexible to provide us the ability to buy what we need, when we need it. To me this is a fundamental change that needs to occur, especially as we go forward with improving our ability to manage big data.
WashingtonExec: When you were CIO of the U.S. Army, how did you determine what mobile devices were mission-critical devices?
General Sorenson: I was fortunate during my tenure as CIO because we had access to a source of funds, now called OCO (Other Contingency Operations), which provided us the ability during wartime to buy what Soldiers need. I can recall during one of my earlier visits to Afghanistan when the Division G6, the person responsible on the division staff for tactical communications, showed me a chart that indicated approximately 60% of the IT systems he used in theater were commercial off-the-shelf capabilities. What did that mean? It meant the rest of the 40% came from programs of record that go through the budget process that I just mentioned. Right there it was clear to me that we, as an Army as well as a Defense Department, were not keeping current with acquiring current capabilities for the warfighter. We then started laying the groundwork for accelerating the acquisition of commercial based communication systems using OCO funds to meet the needs of the warfighter. However, unless we make some changes to the current requirement and budget process, future CIOs will not have that luxury.
WashingtonExec: As we all know we are about to see budget constraints. What technologies do you think will be spared?
General Sorenson: Going back to the discussion of big data, today we have databases and data systems that are essentially stove piped within functional domains. To answer your question, I don’t think there is a specific technology that could be spared to solve that problem. However, if we can get industry can to help us streamline how we use our IT capabilities, that will be a huge step forward in helping our warfighters and government use those systems more efficiently and effectively.
WashingtonExec: Where do you think we will see defense spending cuts?
General Sorenson: At this point in time it is really hard to say exactly what will come of it. I definitely think that spending levels will reduced. However, my guess is that reduction might be half of what it is that they are projecting. As opposed to $50 billion a year it might be something more on the order of $20 – $25 billion. That said, it is still going to require some shifts and priorities in terms regarding what gets funded in the future and that, to me, will continue to be a challenge for the department.
WashingtonExec: What keeps you up at night?
General Sorenson: What keeps me up at night is wondering what type of life my children and grandchildren will have. The world of today is much more unstable than the one that I knew as I grew up. The threats are greater, the adversary is difficult to find and their capacity to inflict damage is increasing every day. I am concerned as a Soldier and father whether we will continue to have the ability to defend and safeguard the Nation. While I am extremely proud of our military, I realize that the country is weary of war. Yet, we have built physical and virtual warfighting capabilities that are second to none. However, if we don’t continue to spend the resources to adequately equip, train and sustain our pre-eminent warfighting capabilities and our superb volunteer force, our way of life and the freedoms we enjoy may become a thing of the past.
