On Tuesday August 1, 2023, I experienced the privilege of a lifetime, embarking on a 3-day educational and learning adventure at sea, from lower Manhattan Pier 17 in New York, located in the moonlit shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge, to the majestic shores of Portland, Maine, on the 295-foot-long tall ship sailing barque, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) EAGLE, courtesy of the Chief Data & Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO) of the Coast Guard, Captain Brian Erickson.
Captain Erickson is undeniably a man on a mission, that being the establishment of data and AI as foundational capabilities and assets of the U.S. Coast Guard. As Erickson states, “We need to treat data like any other strategic asset of the Coast Guard, including our aircraft, vessels, and our greatest assets, our service members”. Erickson comes to the often-challenging role of the CDAO with abundant qualifications and preparation. After receiving his BS in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, Erickson has been an active service member, USCG helicopter pilot, aeronautical engineer, and a USCG air station commanding officer, in addition to completing an MSE in Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering at Purdue, and an MIT Sloan Fellow MBA. The rigors and demands of the CDAO role should come relatively easily to Captain Erickson, being an old hand at challenging roles based on this experience.
A few years ago, I published an article here in Forbes, How The Pentagon Chief Data Officer And His Unit Are Taking The Beach, which described the launch of the Chief Data Office at the U.S. Department of Defense. It was interesting to me to learn about how the U.S. Federal government and the U.S. military were mobilizing to leverage data, analytics, and AI throughout their operations in a systematic fashion, while leveraging learnings gleaned from observing how data and analytics were employed within private industry for over a decade.
The U.S. Coast Guard officially commissioned and formally launched its data and AI initiative in August 2020 with the establishment of the Data Readiness Task Force (DRTF) whose mission was “to shape the future of Coast Guard data management and to leverage the full potential of data as a strategic resource”. Elements of the USCG DRTF mission include the establishment of consistent and integrated data infrastructure and governance practices, establishment of data competencies, and the empowerment of data driven decision making. During the establishment of the DRTF, the Coast Guard briefly appointed an Acting CDO.
In August 2021 Captain Brian Erickson assumed responsibility as Chief of the Data Readiness Task Force, and in October 2021 was designated as the inaugural USCG Chief Data Officer (CDO), with a stated mandate to “champion advancements in data management and governance, and cultivate workforce knowledge of data collection, analysis, protection, use, and dissemination as it related to Coast Guard missions”. In January 2023, Erickson assumed additional responsibilities for artificial intelligence, and was named the first Chief Data and AI Officer for the Coast Guard.
It was during this period that Captain Erickson invited me to speak to the USCG operational leadership and data leadership teams on industry lessons in data-driven leadership. It was this engagement with Coast Guard leadership that led to the subsequent invitation that I received earlier this year to join the officers and crew of the USCG tall ship EAGLE on a 3-day sailing voyage during which I would speak with and engage young cadets and the ship’s crew on the power and importance of data, analytics, and AI in helping organizations achieve their operational missions and support those whom they serve.
Given the complex mission of the Coast Guard, which include search and rescue, law enforcement interdiction, and migrant passage and safety, it is noteworthy that Captain Erickson singles out serviceperson recruitment and retention as one of the most urgent areas in which the Coast Guard is applying data, analytics, and AI. Erickson comments, “We face a recruiting and retention crisis within the Coast Guard. To improve our mission support and operations, we must identify and attract highly qualified men and women to serve this country. We need good data to achieve this. We must leverage data and analytics to help us become an employer of choice now and in the future”.
With the vast scope and complexity of Coast Guard operations, it should come as no surprise that data matters, and good data matter tremendously. The kinds of data that are captured by the USCG includes traditional forms of quantifiable numeric data and metrics, as well as extensive capture of sensor, satellite, radio and distress signals, surface radar data, computer vision algorithmic data, and triangulation information. One comes to appreciate the size, complexity, and urgency of the USCG mission as dramatized earlier this summer by the transfixing search and recovery mission that the USCG led in tracking, locating, and recovering the ill-fated Titan submersible that imploded with the loss of a crew of five. Extensive use of data and analytics is required to support search and rescue efforts of this scale and complexity, especially when time is of the essence.
Among the CDAO responsibilities that are expected in the Coast Guard strategy are understanding data governance, data privacy, cyber security, and electronic discovery. The USCG also established an executive steering committee designed to foster advancement of data related issues for internal and external stakeholders. The USCG Data and Analytics office has developed a five-year data strategy, with the premise that “Data is and will continue to be a strategic asset of the USCG. Our vision is to transform how we will value data to enable informed decision making to advance readiness and ensure USCG mission execution has never been more timely or more essential to the Service’s future”.
The commitment of the Coast Guard to the data & AI mission is underscored by how the CDAO role has been structured. Unlike private industry where the CDAO role has too often been plagued by high levels of turnover and short tenures averaging 24-30 months, the USCG CDAO serves for a fixed term. In the case of Captain Erickson, he has signed on to serve in the CDAO role as a 3-year assignment, at which time a successor will be appointed for a new 3-4-year term. This ensures continuity. In addition, the USCG CDAO comes from within the service, meaning that they “know the business”, and can develop a vision for how data, analytics, and AI can work within a branch of service that they are intimately acquainted with, while always keeping the frontline operator in mind.
My sailing adventure upon the USCGC EAGLE culminated at sea 75 miles east of Nantucket Island in a twilight fireside chat on the decks of the tall ship to an engaged audience that comprised over two hundred cadets, enlisted servicepersons, and officers. Led by Captain Erickson, the conversation covered a range of topics including the importance of data and AI to the Coast Guard work and mission, why becoming a data driven organization is a journey that takes time and does not occur overnight, and why careers in data and AI are becoming increasingly attractive. The U.S. Coast Guard Office of Data and Analytics is looking for a few great data and AI service people to carry the mission forward. And it may even come with the added benefit of the sailing adventure of a lifetime!