Navy’s new innovation unit seen as key pipeline for bringing private sector talent into the Reserve
The Navy is steaming ahead with an initiative that aims to tap into patriotism among private sector innovators and use direct commission officer programs to bring new tech talent into the Reserve force.
The Navy, like the other military departments, faces challenges in competing with commercial companies for high-demand technology experts.
“We have limited financial levers compared to the private sector to attract and retain folks,” Ben Kohlmann, assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and Reserve affairs, acknowledged Thursday at Datadog’s Threat Response Forum, presented by FedScoop.
“But at the end of the day, you know the military and the Navy and Marine Corps in particular have the hardest and, I would contend, most important problems to solve. And so, the reason that we attract or can attract great talent is to convince them that if you want to have high meaning and purpose, this is a great opportunity to serve your country,” he said.
The Navy Reserve is looking to take “exceptional private sector people” who want to join the ranks but don’t necessarily desire to have a long career in the military, and “slot them in in expanded ways” via direct commission officer programs, he noted.
“We’re rolling out an early program called the Navy Innovation Unit right now, where we’re taking 15 reservists who are already within our lifelines, who have jobs in high-caliber Silicon Valley organizations, putting them against our harder problems, and then matching them with 10 folks to start who are directly from the private sector — founders and CEOs who are high agency, they are AI natives who understand the challenges of architecture, understand the challenges of reindustrialization — and bringing them in as lieutenant commanders or commanders, O4s and O5s, in the service directly and say … ‘we’re going to give you a chance to go run wild within our systems and help us get better,’” Kohlmann explained.
According to a Navy press release issued in June announcing the launch of the innovation unit, the department is interested in individuals with expertise in areas like data science, AI and machine learning, robotics, autonomous and unmanned systems, quantum tech, software engineering, DevOps, cloud architecture, cybersecurity, offensive or defensive cyber operations, advanced communications and network engineering.
The Navy received about 300 applications for 10 slots after posting notices about the initiative on social media, according to Kohlmann.
“There’s a lot of desire amongst the American public to serve,” he said at the Datadog conference. “We’re trying to find that critical layer to go in and out of government to solve our problems while still retaining your private sector baseline.”
