Hold on tight, this episode is a whirlwind of data-infused targeting, intel, and logistics. Joe O’Callaghan joins host Tom Spahr in the virtual studio to discuss the Department of Defense’s Maven Smart System. Maven was first developed to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to help speed intelligence analysis, but has since been applied to targeting, logistics, and even disaster relief. Joe, as the former Chief of Fires in the XVIII Airborne Corps, was one of the key architects of the system. He is the perfect guest to describe the digital and procedural nuts and bolts required to make the Maven Smart System work. Their conversation also touches on the trail-blazing development process and the kind of leaders required to drive such innovation.
AI is about data and about how you have the governance on that data to make that data usable for your algorithms.
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Joseph “Joe” O’Callaghan, is from Chicago, Illinois, and was commissioned as a Field Artillery Officer from Christian Brothers University, Memphis, Tennessee in 1994. He retired as a colonel and was previously the XVIII Airborne Corps Chief of Fires overseeing the Corps Joint Fires and Targeting Enterprise and the Corps subject matter expert on Algorithmic Warfare. He has served in both Conventional and Special Operations units. He is one of the key architects of the Department of Defense’s Maven Smart System (MSS).
Thomas W. Spahr is the DeSerio Chair of Theater and Strategic Intelligence at the U.S. Army War College. He is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army and holds a Ph.D. in History from The Ohio State University. He teaches courses at the Army War College on Military Campaigning and Intelligence.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.
Photo Description: U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jesus Bustamante, a Houston, Texas, native and a high mobility artillery rocket system operator with 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division rides in a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System during exercise Scarlet Dragon in Dugway, Utah, Feb. 2, 2023. Scarlet Dragon is a joint exercise in which the U.S. military branches test their interoperability capability with joint units.
Photo Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Emma Gray
