Longtime CDAO deputy Margie Palmieri poised to depart defense AI hub

Officials in the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office are getting set for one of the hub’s longest-serving leaders — Margie Palmieri — to exit from her post as deputy CDAO, DefenseScoop has learned.

“After more than three years as the inaugural Principal Deputy of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, Ms. Margaret Palmieri will be departing the organization in August. We are immensely grateful for the incredible groundwork she laid while standing up the CDAO,” a defense official told DefenseScoop on Monday.

Four predecessor organizations — the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, Defense Digital Service, Office of the Chief Data Officer, and the Advana program — were fused together to form the CDAO, which was announced in late 2021 and reached full operating capability in 2022.

One of the earliest CDAO employees, Palmieri was tapped to serve as its first-ever deputy chief in early 2022, soon after the office was announced. Before that, she spent more than a decade in the Office of Naval Operations where she led a number of technology-driving initiatives, including setting up and leading the Navy Digital Warfare Office.

At the CDAO, she helped steer the Pentagon’s AI and machine learning strategy, development and policy formulation and create the foundation for departmentwide digital infrastructure and services to support military and civilian components’ algorithmic-enabled asset deployments. Palmieri also led the CDAO in an acting capacity multiple times during her tenure, including most recently during the transition into the second Trump administration.

Her planned departure marks the latest in an exodus of senior leaders and other technical employees from the CDAO in recent months, and comes as the office’s new leadership has yet to publicly reveal its vision for the future. 

DefenseScoop has contacted Pentagon spokespersons regarding whether a new deputy has been selected to replace the deputy CDAO in a permanent or acting capacity.