Retired SOCOM Commander and LinkedIn Chairman Join New Pentagon Innovation Effort

Retired Adm. Bill McRaven, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson are the first members named to the Defense Innovation Board since Carter created it in March and announced that it would be led by Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc., the Silicon Valley parent company of Google. It was formed as Carter pushes for closer alliances with Silicon Valley and other sectors of the business world that the Pentagon wants to work with to develop new military technologies. Carter said the board members will begin their work this summer, and will deliver their first set of recommendations to him by the fall. He announced their additions at a “tech summit” in Washington sponsored by the media organization Defense One. There could eventually be as many as 12 members on the board, he has said previously.