In 2014, it is projected that about 5 zettabytes (or 10**21 bits) of digital data are being generated per year by everything from underground physics experiments to retail transactions to global positioning systems to the Internet of Things. In the U. S., programs are being funded to deal with Big Data in all five sectors (i.e., services, manufacturing, construction, agriculture and mining) of the economy. While the focus of this paper is on Big Data from a U. S. perspective, it should be emphasized that data – especially big data – is worthless for decision making unless it is analyzed or processed to yield critical information which can then be employed to make informed decisions. Big Data is poised to add greater value to businesses; to understand planet earth; to solve science and engineering problems; to enhance the World Wide Web; and to aid national security agencies. It should be noted that Big Data is not a panacea for all analytical problems; nevertheless, it can support informed – yet, not necessarily defensible or knowledgeable – decisions or choices. More specifically, it can somewhat overcome data quality issues with data quantity, data access restrictions with on-demand cloud computing, causative analysis with correlative data analytics, and model-driven with evidence-driven applications.