Editor’s Note: This article by Kelsey Baker was originally published by Business Insider.
A second crop of tech executives entered the Army Reserve last week, expanding the service’s ties with Big Tech as it continues a dramatic effort to modernize its equipment and systems and better prepare for modern warfare.
Those who recently joined include Dane Knecht, the chief technology officer of Cloudflare; Sam Pullara, managing director and CTO of Sutter Hill Ventures, a Palo Alto investment firm; and Serkan Piantino, a former Reddit executive and co-founder of Facebook AI Research.
The executives have joined a unit known as Detachment 201, a special unit “designed to bridge the gap between private-sector innovation and military modernization,” the Army said in a press release, reflecting the Pentagon’s push to leverage private-sector technical expertise to address complex national security and defense challenges.
Members are reservists, can work remotely, and must complete a minimum of 112 hours of service annually.
“Their primary role is to serve as senior advisors to help drive the Army Transformation Initiative, concentrated on high-level technological strategies in areas such as cyber, AI and machine learning applications, and other data-driven capabilities,” Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Orlando Howard said in an email to Business Insider.
They join four other tech leaders who entered the Army Reserve one year ago: Shyam Sankar, the chief technology officer of Palantir; Andrew Bosworth, the chief technology officer of Meta; Kevin Weil, formerchief product officer at OpenAI; and Bob McGrew, an advisor at Thinking Machines Lab and former chief research officer at OpenAI.
All entered the Army as lieutenant colonels, a rank that takes most officers over a decade to reach. The senior entry, known as a “direct commission,” is not unheard of, though. Most military medical providers, chaplains, and veterinarians join at slightly more senior ranks, though they undergo their own version of boot camp, while Det 201 does not.
“The program selects applicants who are highly skilled civilian technology professionals at the executive or C-suite level to serve as part-time strategic advisers,” Howard said. “These officers use their advanced expertise in commercial tech and private industry to offer a different perspective and advise senior Army leaders on solving military problems.”
Detachment 201 previously prompted questions from skeptics who voiced concerns about the ethics of bringing in people with deep professional ties to military technology and defense acquisitions as advisors.
The new officers “are governed by a multi-layered ethics framework, including the Joint Ethics Regulation,” Howard said. That includes mandatory confidential financial disclosures, annual ethics training, and legal review of each work assignment. “Recusal from any matter affecting the financial interests of members of Detachment 201 is mandatory.”
Related: Soldier skills and fieldcraft still matter despite tech advances, as Army’s newest optic shows
It’s not clear what the daily duties of Detachment 201 personnel entail, though the Army has highlighted the group’s strategic counsel on “critical challenges” such as munitions supply chain data analysis, organic industrial base investments, and strategies for autonomous systems and counter-drone technologies.
Munitions, industrial investment, and drone tech are significant areas of concern for the Pentagon. The war in Iran has strained U.S. munitions stockpiles, raising concerns about the Pentagon’s ability to sustain a major conflict, while the rise of drones is creating new opportunities and challenges for the military and manufacturers. And the Pentagon is increasingly seeking for new ways to revitalize the American defense industry to build the arsenal it believes it needs for future fights.
Addressing some of these issues for the Army is where Detachment 201 comes into play.
“They participate in collaborative advisory and brainstorming sessions with senior military leaders to accelerate Army transformation, while also directly advising our teams in making technical system changes,” Howard said.
Feature Image: U.S. Army Lt. Col. Dane Knecht, left, Lt. Col. Serkan Piantino, center, and Lt. Col. Sam Pullara raise their right hands as U.S. Army Sec. Daniel P. Driscoll administers the oath of office during the commissioning of members of Detachment 201. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Smith)
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