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Palantir, Meta, OpenAI execs to commission into Army reserve, form 'Detachment 201' - Breaking Defense
“There’s an urgency to change and transform the Army and these guys [are] going to help,” said Col Dave Butler.
breakingdefense.com
WASHINGTON — The US Army today will direct commission four tech executives at the rank of Lt. Col., charging them with leading a new Army innovation corps inside the Reserve component, according to a service spokesman.
“Detachment 201 is being created to bring in tech innovation executives leaders to help the Army … on broader conceptual things like talent management, how do we bring in tech focused people into the ranks of the military, and then, how do we train them,” Col. Dave Butler, the top spokesman for the Army Chief of Staff, told Breaking Defense today.
This initial cohort of executives includes the chief technology officer from Palantir, Shyam Sankar, whose “Defense Reformation” website has become a talking point among defense tech community; Andrew Bosworth, the chief technology officer from Meta; Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer and Bob McGrew who, until November, was chief research officer at at OpenAI. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the plan.
The four will be sworn in tonight ahead of the service’s 250th birthday celebration on Saturday, Butler said.
The move comes as the Trump administration embraces venture capital and tech industries, including VC-backed startups like Anduril, Palantir and others who have begun to take root as major players in the defense industrial base. The Trump administration’s nominee to take the reins as the Army’s No. 2 two civilian, Michael Obadal, is an Anduril employee.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll have also been focused on giving tech startups and non-traditional defense companies a more prominent role inside the service. Driscoll has even called it a “success” if a large prime contractor closes its doors in the coming years if they can’t start operating more efficiently.
Nothing new here. In WW2 corporate executives were direct commissioned as general officers to manage and direct rapid manufacturing ramp up, mostly in air and armor.
David Sarnoff, of RCA fame, was commissioned a full bird to put together both real and decoy central comms nets for D-Day and got a one star promotion out of it.
Some emigres with special talents found themselves in the odd position of literally being hustled into federal buildings where they were sworn in as citizens in the morning and taking the oath as commissioned officers in the afternoon, then put on an overnight train for officers training camp by nightfall.
