The Defense Department plans to open a second outreach office for its Defense Innovation Unit Experimental in Boston, less than a year after launching the organization in California’s Silicon Valley area, DoD News reported Wednesday.
Jim Garamone writes Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the plan during his visit Tuesday at the DIUx headquarters in Mountain View, California, and introduced Raj Shah, a technology industry veteran and a U.S. Air Force reserve F-16 fighter pilot, as managing partner of DIUx.
He added DoD requested about $30 million in funds as part of its fiscal 2017 budget proposal to invest in emerging commercial technologies that can help military agencies perform missions.
In an interview with CNBC correspondent Josh Lipton, he said the DIUx expansion initiative is part of DoD’s efforts to increase partnership between the department and technology companies.
“We’ve got to be the best because we’re protecting the greatest country on earth, and the wonderful people and all of the civilization that we all stand for has to be defended,” he told Lipton.