This is a project that should see the light of day in 2025: according to information from La Lettre of November 22, and from L’Informé of December 24, four state agencies dedicated to military digital technology will merged into a brand new CND, the Defence Digital Commission.
Within the Ministry of the Army, digital technology is now managed by four different entities that were created according to the needs of the sector:
- the Joint Directorate of Infrastructure Networks and Information Systems (DIRISI) was initially tasked in 2004 with developing the army's IT side.
- In 2018, the Directorate General for Digital Affairs and Information and Communication Systems (DGNUM) was then created to oversee the digital transformation of the ministry…
- Closely followed by the Defense Digital Agency which, in 2021, was given the mission of managing all strategic digital files.
- Finally arrived this year, in April 2024, the brand new Ministerial Agency for Defense Artificial Intelligence (AMIAD), in charge of AI.
The CND on its feet from September 2025
To put an end to this overlapping of agencies which could lead to duplication and which required a certain amount of coordination, these four entities will merge into one and the same body: the CND. The file is directly supported by the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, who promises that there will be no job cuts, no salary or budget reductions. The latter emphasizes, in an address dated December 3, quoted by L’Informé :
According to Sébastien Lecornu, the CND should be up and running by September 2025. The very young AMIAD agency will join it fifteen months later. "The advent of artificial intelligence and its daily use on the battlefield mark a tipping point that we must prepare for so that our digital infrastructures can support it," he said, again quoted by our colleagues.
For some, we still need to go further
For some, the future merger is not without concern: chow will teams more dedicated to administrative support succeed in merging with those whose mission is mainly to wage war, they are alarmed in the columns of L’Informé.
But for others, this is good news, which could even go further: why not apply the concept to digital technology in general, argues for example on LinkedIn Henri d’Agrain, the general delegate of Cigref, an association that brings together more than 150 European companies including Dassault and Bouygues: "What is true for defense is also true for digital technology as a strategic asset for society and its economy".
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