The Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) announced today that its inaugural chief technology officer (CTO) Bill Streilein is transitioning back to academia.
The Defense Department (DoD) launched the CDAO and hired Streilein as its first CTO in February 2022.
The CDAO said in an Aug. 19 LinkedIn post that Streilein will return to the DoD-funded MIT Lincoln Lab at the end of the summer.
“We greatly appreciate the pivotal role Dr. Streilein played in the technical success of CDAO priorities and initiatives,” the CDAO wrote on LinkedIn. “In addition to establishing the Chief Technology Office within CDAO and providing strategic technical vision, he shaped the Department’s thinking on Generative AI and AI/ML scaffolding and was often the face of CDAO in numerous public fora, effectively communicating DoD priorities and progress in AI to industry, academia, and government groups.”
“Thank you, Dr. Streilein, for your service to our Nation and impactful contributions to the CDAO and DOD mission,” the office added.
Streilein’s last two and a half years at the DoD have marked his only direct work for the Federal government. He worked in the private sector for nearly a decade but has spent the majority of his career at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Mass., was founded in 1951 as a Federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security.
Streilein began his career at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1998 and, according to his LinkedIn, still currently works there as a principal member of technical staff.
