Army commissions tech execs as officer recruits

This month, the Army announced the creation of Detachment 201, dubbed the Pentagon's Executive Innovation Corps, to "fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation." While part of a broader effort to ensure the military has access to the most advanced assets available, this new initiative comes amid President Donald Trump's ongoing push to incorporate Silicon Valley's money and mindset into his vision of an American technocracy.

The corps has selected four Silicon Valley execs for its inaugural group of Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonels: Palantir's Shyam Sankar, Meta's Andrew Bosworth, Kevin Weil of OpenAI, and Thinking Machine Labs' Bob McGrew. They will reportedly not be required to complete the Army Fitness Test or participate in the military's six-week-long Direct Commissioning Course.

'Uneasy alliance'

While in the past it's been considered "anathema in Silicon Valley" to work on projects with military applications, "never mind suiting up for service," this new initiative shows how much the "relationship between the Pentagon and the tech industry has deepened," said The Wall Street Journal. The historically "uneasy alliance" for "consumer-facing tech companies" worried about associating themselves with the Pentagon is "changing," said Gizmodo. At the same time, Detachment 201's tech execs "run the risk of hitching their wagons" and those of the "companies they represent" to an administration "famous for acting recklessly."

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The military has "long turned to civilian experts" for "technological insight," but Detachment 201 takes the Pentagon's "desire to collaborate with the high-technology industry to a new level," said Defense News. The inaugural class of officers comes from companies with a history of "entrenching themselves in military technology development." All four of the initial group are employed at big tech firms "investing heavily in emerging fields like AI and machine learning," said Task and Purpose. The Pentagon is "looking to fold" both into "future weapon systems." All four are also "multi-millionaires several times over," and will be commissioned at a rank usually achieved by officers "deep into the second decade of a military career."

The officers likely will not be tapped for combat-specific roles but to "teach soldiers how to use AI-powered systems" or "use health data to improve fitness," said the Journal. They will also "advise the service on acquiring more commercial technology" and recruiting "other high-tech whizzes."

'Plenty of precedent'

While the exact details of this initial group of Detachment 201 officers' assignments are still in development, "similar iterations are expected down the road," said Business Insider. There has already been "increased interest from other private sector leaders," said Army Chief of Staff Spokesperson Col. Dave Butler to the outlet.

Under the Trump administration, the Army has been looking to assign "tech startups and non-traditional defense companies" a "more prominent role inside the service," Breaking Defense said. The military is also downplaying concerns that embedding tech execs in the field to which they might sell their wares could amount to a conflict of interest. There's "plenty of precedent" for programs like this, said Butler to Breaking Defense. "The difference is we used to do it in wartime, now we're doing it ahead of wartime so that we can prepare and deter."

Beyond the four newly commissioned officers' immediate assignments, the "bigger mission" for Detachment 201 is to "inspire more tech pros to serve without leaving their careers," the Army said in a press release. By doing so, these new officers can show the next generation "how to make a difference in uniform."