Travis Metz to lead DIU as Owen West takes ‘leave of absence’ to help steer new AutoWarCom push
Owen West is taking a “leave of absence” from his post leading the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to serve as the new chief executive officer for the Pentagon’s nascent Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems (DRPM-UxS), a source familiar with the move told DefenseScoop on Friday.
West’s deputy, Travis Metz — the former, longtime venture capital investor who has also spearheaded the Defense Department’s billion-dollar Drone Dominance Program — was elevated to serve as acting DIU director in the near term.
Questions swirled this week about the DOD’s vision and organizational structure for the DIU and DRPM-UxS, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the standup of a new U.S. military functional combatant command for unmanned and autonomous warfare.
Per Hegseth’s memorandum, West was appointed to oversee the existing DRPM-UxS mission, prototyping a new acquisition model for drone technologies, and helping bring the new Autonomous Warfare Command into full fruition through Project Agincourt.
A source who asked to be referred to as a War Department official told DefenseScoop that West will report directly to Hegseth in this new capacity as the DRPM-UxS CEO.
(President Donald Trump signed an executive order rebranding DOD as the Department of War last year, but officially changing the agency’s name requires an act of Congress.)
Organizationally, DIU sits “in the same place” as it has been, the source said, with Metz now reporting directly to the secretary as a principal staff assistant in the position of acting director.
DIU was significantly restructured under West’s initial leadership tenure. As director, he compressed the unit’s previous seven technology portfolios into three core areas that focus on drones, autonomous warfare and “kill webs.”
Prior to taking the reins at DIU, both West and Metz served as core staffers inside the Pentagon who implemented the president’s disruptive, cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.
Earlier in his career, Metz founded and managed an AI consulting firm, and spent 25 years managing and investing in venture capital and private equity funds.
