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New Defense Dept Initiative to Recruit Private Sector Tech Pros for Reserves

21 points by bookofjoe 2 days ago | 17 comments

bookofjoe 2 days ago

metadat 2 days ago

moandcompany 2 days ago

I'm wondering if the intended assignments for these reserve officers would be for operational roles or in acquisitions/program management.

Historically there are a lot of revolving door style career moves, but usually from the direction of active duty officers going into industry roles. And in the last decade we've also seen the flow back in reverse direction (e.g. SecDef, technically a civilian office)

While it wouldn't apply to every person serving, it seems possible to have exposure to conflicts of interest if the person's civilian job directly intersects with the industry pool where systems are being developed and procured from.

Sabinus 2 days ago

It's a great idea. Leveraging the awesome power of the American civil tech economy is going to be very necessary as great power competition heats up.

Tier3r 2 days ago

I'm dubious of its scale and effects. Tech creates exponential value because of aggressive focus, iteration and critical mass of talent. The reserves seems very far from this.

rightbyte 2 days ago

The military isn't exactly a place for great minds to flourish.

"The department is considering asking chief technology officers and other senior tech professionals to take up high-ranking positions in the reserves."

This is some sort of consolidation of power.

euroderf 1 day ago

Can the DoD guarantee that you'll never ever get sent overseas against your wishes ? People in the reserve and the Guard got sent to Iraq.

lordalch 1 day ago

I'm not trying to sound snarky, but the armed forces does have a category of employees who can't be involuntarily deployed: civilians. There are already many civilian employees of the DoD that work in the tech roles discussed in the article.