CDAO’s first tech chief Bill Streilein exits for academia

Bill Streilein, the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s first technology chief who helped set the foundation for that nascent defense tech hub, is departing the Pentagon to return to academia, DefenseScoop has learned.

In a statement shared exclusively with DefenseScoop by a spokesperson Monday morning ahead of the official announcement, CDAO leadership thanked Streilein for “his immense technical leadership over the last two years as he prepares to transition back to MIT Lincoln Labs at the end of the summer.”

To join the CDAO in early 2022, Streilein stepped away from his role as a cyber leader and principal staff member in MIT’s Biotechnology and Human Systems Division. He subsequently helped drive a range of early initiatives and projects within the Pentagon’s AI-accelerating organization.

“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,” CDAO leadership wrote in the statement Monday. “Thank you, Dr. Streilein, for your service to our nation and impactful contributions to the CDAO and DOD mission.”

The CDAO has not made a selection yet for an acting CTO to replace Streilein but plans to do so before his departure, the spokesperson told DefenseScoop.