{"id":74793,"date":"2026-06-15T22:34:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/74793\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T22:34:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:34:38","slug":"5-initiatives-driving-the-marines-to-be-an-ai-first-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/74793\/","title":{"rendered":"5 initiatives driving the Marines to be an AI-first force"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Marine Corps has developed a roadmap to meet the goals outlined by Secretary Pete Hegseth in his January memo<\/a> to become an AI-first warfighting force.<\/p>\n

Through five key initiatives, the Marine Corps is turning the secretary\u2019s strategic intent into tactical reality.<\/p>\n

Colin Crosby, the deputy commandant for information and service data officer for the Marine Corps, said through these five lines of effort, the Marines are operationalizing its data and embracing a data-centric future.<\/p>\n

\"\"Colin Crosby is the deputy commandant for information and service data officer for the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just another policy document. It is a declaration of intent and a call to action. It answers the question, \u2018What will we do with all this data?\u2019\u201d Crosby said during the recent AFCEA NOVA Naval IT Day, an excerpt of which played on Ask the CIO<\/a>. \u201cWhy is this memo so important? First, it fundamentally redefined our posture. The secretary directs the department to become an AI-first warfighting force. This is a profound shift. It means we no longer see AI as an add-on or a niche capability. Instead, we must reimagine our workflows, tactics and operational concepts as if they were born in the age of AI. Second, this strategy is built for speed. Third, this strategy has teeth. It empowers a single entity, the Office of Secretary of [Defense] Chief Data and AI Office to drive implementation and to remove barriers. This memo directs a wartime approach to blockers, gives the CDAO authority to cut through the bureaucracy that inhibits data sharing, contracting and fielding new capabilities. Denials of data requests, for example, must now be justified to the highest level within seven days. Finally, and most critically for our purpose today, this moment explicitly connects the success of our AI ambitions to the foundation we have discussed, it directs CDAO to enforce [DoD] data decrees and to further unlock our data for mission advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

]]><\/p>\n

The Marines are unlocking its data through a series of initiatives.<\/p>\n

Crosby said the service is implementing digital transformation teams, which are dedicated groups with the sole responsibility to deliver capabilities to their commands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are piloting an AI accelerator through the implementation of our AI fellowship program. The secretary\u2019s memo calls for pace-setting projects to deliver tangible outcomes. The AI accelerator is being explored as an engine for this. It is focused on rapidly developing, testing, and implementing AI models for high-priority war fighting needs. It\u2019s about when the moving from theory to fielding, turning what if into right now,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the core of our entire effort is the data orchestration layer. This directly answers the sector mandate to unlock our data. We are fostering innovation and collaboration. The secretary\u2019s guidance emphasizes that innovation cannot be centralized. We are actively engaging with industry, academia and our partners in joint and coalition space.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final initiative is all about training and upskilling the workforce.<\/p>\n

A modern data architecture<\/p>\n

Crosby said the Marine Corps Software Factory is at the center of training and education of Marines to have the digital talent required to build and sustain modern software-defined capabilities.<\/p>\n

The Marines established its software factory<\/a> in April 2023 to give commanders development capabilities at the edge to meet mission needs in real time.<\/p>\n

Crosby said each of these initiatives is interconnected and represents the Marines\u2019 \u201ccomprehensive service-aligned approach to meeting the secretary\u2019s challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

]]><\/p>\n

Former Marines Lt. Gen. Matthew Glavy, the deputy commandant for information and commander of the Marine Corps Forces Strategic Command, issued the Corps\u2019 AI and data policy<\/a> in March 2024 as the foundational and initial piece to this larger effort. The policy lays out the roles and responsibilities for data and AI across the service.<\/p>\n

Crosby said the next step was to create a federated data catalog<\/a> to know what data they have and where it\u2019s located with the help of functional area managers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federated framework is our modern data architecture. It is a connective tissue that will allow us to finally leverage our data at the speed of relevance, from the Pentagon to the tactical edge. It is an enterprise solution designed to break down the silos that are hindered us for decades, making our data visible, accessible, not just within the Marine Corps, but across the joint force,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cTo achieve this we must federate to create an integrated architecture across the Marine Corps. Think of our Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN) as the unified digital ecosystem that delivers secure, standardized IT services to support business operations, decision making and enterprise efficiency at the tactical level. It provides a resilient expeditionary communication that enables Marines to command and control, and to share critical information across any battlespace.\u201d<\/p>\n

A successful summit<\/p>\n

Another key piece to move the Marines toward being an AI-first force is training the workforce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crosby said the Corps held its third-annual GenAI Summit workshop at Quantico in March. During that workshop, more than 300 employees from the service data offices, other Marines and civilians and industry discussed how to share data and apply AI tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, what are their pain points? What do they need? How are we supporting them? And then how can we better continue to support them? We also want to bridge the gap in with having Marines and industry partners in the room. I want industry partners, not just to hear it from one individual telling them what the Marine Corps needs, but to hear from the service, the war fighters, the Marines that are out there doing it day-to-day,\u201d Crosby said about the workshop. \u201cThat\u2019s the starting point and from that you can learn what the gaps are. These conversations will help inform how we do business moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crosby added the event also helped the Marines better understand where it stands with implementing AI tools and capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about better IT. This is about decision superiority. It is about giving our infantry squad leader real time intelligence, enabling a logistician to predict supply needs and providing commanders with a clear unified picture of the battle space,\u201d he said. \u201cOur mission is to ensure our warfighters have that same data-driven advantage to sense, to share and to act faster and more effectively than our adversaries. By operationalizing our data and embracing this data-centric future, we will ensure Marine Corps continues to be a lethal expeditionary force in readiness our nation requires.\u201d<\/p>\n

]]><\/p>\n

Copyright
\n \u00a9\u00a02026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Marine Corps has developed a roadmap to meet the goals outlined by Secretary Pete Hegseth in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[41116,24,25,41117,23010,7486,26341],"class_list":["post-74793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-afcea-nova","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-colin-crosby","tag-data-fabric","tag-marine-corps","tag-training-and-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}