Create decision advantage to project and sustain the Joint Force (Part 2 of 4-part series)

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (Feb. 14, 2022) – U.S. Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, commander, U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), recently shared her priorities for the command and the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise (JDDE). This is the second installment in a four-part series that explores the intent of each priority. 

Create Decision Advantage. Our ability to transform data into knowledge rapidly enables timely decisions and remains critical in outpacing our competitors. Retaining the advantage in decision-making begins by treating data as a strategic asset and transforming ourselves from largely experience-based decision makers to better-informed, data-driven decision makers. Employing data available through sensor networks and logistics information systems, and then applying machine learning and other advanced analytics to transform that data into actionable information, will provide our leaders time, space, and options in decision-making. Our command must sense, make sense, decide, and act faster than the pacing threat.    

Van Ovost said USTRANSCOM’s mission is enduring, and warfighting readiness is, and will remain, its top priority.

“The timing and tempo of strategic competition requires integrated actions at a pace we have not experienced before,” she said. “To ensure mission success, we must treat data as a strategic asset and make better-informed, data-driven decisions. We must Create Decision Advantage.”

Van Ovost said today’s decision-making is pressurized by the security environment, the volume of information available, and the speed at which it travels.

“Time can mean the difference between preventing a crisis, prevailing in conflict, or providing life-saving resources around the world,” she said. “Our ability to transform data into knowledge rapidly enables timely decisions and remains critical in outpacing our adversaries.”

She emphasized data tells a story, which each of us places into context and transcribes for leadership.

Van Ovost said, “Your job expertise allows leaders to sense, make sense, decide, and act faster; and your data analysis gives leadership the confidence to create operational advantages and increase effectiveness.

“By utilizing data through our networks and logistics systems, and applying analytics to transform that data into actionable knowledge, we can provide time, space, and options to make decisions at multiple echelons.”

Van Ovost said USTRANSCOM’s ability to transform data into knowledge is the backbone of its decisions.

“Creating Decision Advantage in the evolving strategic environment allows us to utilize information to our benefit and leverage our strengths to globally project and sustain the Joint Force,” she said. “Together, we deliver!”

USTRANSCOM exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, TRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation's leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.

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