Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to restructure its Advana data platform, separating financial data from a new War Data Platform to support warfighting and intelligence missions across the Defense Department (DOD) – which the Trump administration rebranded as the War Department.
In a Jan. 9 memo, Hegseth ordered the reorganization to address growing technical complexity within Advana and to accelerate the department’s adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) while improving auditability.
“This transformation of Advana into a modernized War Data Platform will enable us to execute with the pace and agility required, capitalizing on the strong data foundation Advana has built,” Hegseth wrote.
Advana – short for “Advancing” and “Analytic” – serves as the DOD’s enterprise data and analytics environment. Launched in 2021, the platform integrates information from across the department to provide analytics tools and data drawn from more than 400 business systems in support of data-driven decision-making.
Over time, the growth of its applications and data environments has resulted in a “complex technical architecture” that Hegseth said now requires rationalization.
The platform’s long-term direction appeared uncertain last year after the DOD canceled efforts by its Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to recompete a $15 billion Advancing Artificial Intelligence Multiple Award Contract. The contract had been intended to scale the department’s core data infrastructure, modernize digital tools, and broaden the vendor base supporting Advana.
Despite the cancellation, defense officials have maintained that Advana would continue to mature both technically and programmatically.
The new look for Advana
Under the directive, the under secretary of defense for research and engineering and the CDAO will reorganize Advana into three distinct program components.
The first is a War Data Platform program team focused on expanding a core data integration layer to provide standardized data access and support rapid development of AI applications across the department.
The second, Advana for Financial Management, will support audit remediation efforts led by the under secretary of defense (comptroller). That team will focus on helping the department achieve a clean audit opinion on fiscal year (FY) 2027 Defense Working Capital Fund statements and FY 2028 agency-wide financial statements.
The third, the War Data Platform Application Services team, will rationalize other non-audit-related Advana applications, support migrations to the new platform, and enable self-service integration of new AI tools.
Each program will be led by senior technical officials and overseen by new leadership within the CDAO. The office is required to provide status updates to the secretary every 45 days until full operational capability is reached for the War Data Platform and Advana for Financial Management.
Hegseth also directed a series of near-term actions, including reallocating personnel within 30 days, reviewing existing Advana applications within 60 days, and developing formal requirements for the new platform within 120 days.
Additional technical staff will be hired through the Office of Personnel Management’s “Tech Force” program, and the Navy may provide temporary personnel support.