Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work and Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall traveled to Silicon Valley, Calif., this week to meet with the leaders of the Pentagon’s new presence in the tech hub. The Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) is establishing an office at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., to help build relationships, scout out new technology, and create partnerships between the Defense Department and industry. The DIUx, led by Director George Duchak and military deputy Rear Adm. Brian Hendrickson, is designed to connect the military with innovators who haven’t traditionally worked with the DOD, and help integrate commercial technologies into the military system, according to a DOD news release. It’s also part of a larger push to connect defense officials with commercial innovators. “Innovation in areas such as big data, analytics, autonomy, and robotics is going on in [Silicon Valley] and we want to tap into it,” Work said. (Readout of Work, Kendall visit to Silicon Valley.)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth foot-stomped the Pentagon's push for acquisition speed and contractor accountability in a Jan. 12 speech at Lockheed Martin’s production hub in Fort Worth, Texas—the heart of the department’s biggest acquisition program, the F-35.
