Information-age technology is advancing at a stunning pace, yielding increasingly complex information architectures, data accessibility, and knowledge management—all of which have created the conditions for a leap in intelligence processes,” stated Lieutenant General Robert Otto, the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR).

Big data is everywhere these days. It shows up in many realms of contemporary life, ranging from how people are guided to potential purchases as they shop online, to how political campaigns win elections, and even to when farmers plant crops and apply fertilizer to their fields. While there is no denying the value that comes from data integration and information availability made possible by modern computing power, there are many associated challenges that relate to the privacy of the individual, security of personal data, and reach of decisions influenced by big data. These concerns describe an emerging discipline known as the ethics of big data. This growing conversation is relevant for the military, given both the potential gains from big data collection and analysis as well as the simple fact that big data is here to stay.

As the Department of Defense (DOD) formulates strategy and doctrine for operating in cyberspace, it is vital to understand the domain and how it relates to the traditional domains of land, sea, air, and space. While cyberspace has distinct technologies and methods, it shares many characteristics with the traditional domains, and some of the conventional wisdom about how cyberspace differs from them does not hold up under examination.