Defense chief overhauls Silicon Valley outreach

Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday announced changes to a Silicon Valley office that has come under fire for its low output since opening a little more than eight months ago.

Carter announced the changes to what’s known as Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, during a speech at its Silicon Valley location.

{mosads}“We’re taking a page straight from the Silicon Valley playbook,” Carter said. “We’re iterating, and rapidly, to make DIUx even better. As a result of all this great experience and in view of technology’s and the world’s imperative to stay agile, today we’re launching DIUx 2.0.”

DUIx officially opened its doors in August with the goal of building better connections with technology companies. Carter has made reaching out to the technology world a signature part of his tenure, with Wednesday’s trip is his fourth to the Bay Area since becoming Defense secretary.

The program’s new office will be in Boston, where the Pentagon also recently launched a program to integrate technology into textiles.

Carter also announced a “partnership-style” leadership structure. The program will now be run by managing partner Raj Shah, a National Guardsman and CEO of a tech startup. The other partners will be Isaac Taylor, who was head of operations for Google X; Vishaal Hariprasad, an Air Force Reserve captain who co-founded a cyber security startup; and Chris Kirchhoff, who was a civilian adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, director of strategic planning for the National Security Council and a lead author of the White House’s Big Data report.

The program’s founding director, George Duchak, will move into helping other areas of the Pentagon’s research and engineering offices, Carter said.

DUIx will also now report directly to Carter instead of the undersecretary of Defense for acquisitions, as it had been.

“I can’t afford to have everybody do that, but this is to signify the importance I attach to this mission and also the importance of speedy decision making,” Carter said.

In announcing the changes, Carter touted successes including making connections with more than 500 firms and entrepreneurs and providing funding pipelines for two dozen technology projects, such as wind-powered drones.

But Carter acknowledged the program could move faster.

“We know how fast companies run here and in other tech hubs around the country, and we expect DIUx 2.0 to run alongside them,” he said.

Some lawmakers have been critical of the program. The version of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act in the House would withhold 20 percent of DUIx’s funding until the Pentagon produces a report on its mission statement, planned expansion and how compliance with Defense Department requirements could effect nontraditional defense contractors such as technology start-ups, among other concerns.

“The committee is concerned,” said a House Armed Services Committee summary of the bill, “that outreach is proceeding without sufficient attention being paid to breaking down the barriers that have traditionally prevented nontraditional contractors from supporting defense needs, like lengthy contracting processes and the inability to transition technologies.”