The Department of Defense (DoD) Data Strategy was released in 2020. The first computer was created 75 years before that, temporarily “storing” about 200 bytes of data. As of 2025, we create, capture, copy, and consume almost 181 zettabytes of data daily. As technology continues to revolutionize data collection, storage, and analysis, the capability to perform big data analytics is critical for enhancing decision-making and operational efficiencies within defense. The important details of data identification, access/acquisition, and storage are often overlooked when organizations decide to employ data for analytic and machine learning applications. This chapter will walk through a hierarchy of defense data needs, in order to reach data actualization for analysis to support the warfighter. The DoD poses unique challenges in the sensitive nature of defense-related data, including privacy concerns, interoperability issues, regulatory compliance, and protection for data critical to national security. The chapter concludes with a call to action for both defense organizations and their counterparts in the private sector to enhance overall readiness through data actualization.