Third US defence department official resigns, warning US risks losing tech edge amid Pentagon’s eroding commercial base

  • Preston Dunlap said the Pentagon should behave more like SpaceX and that the consolidation of the defence-industrial base is bad for competition
  • The former chief architect officer said the US should be braver about undertaking tests that might fail in tech such as hypersonics to artificial intelligence

The Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, on December 26, 2011. Photo: AFP
A senior official responsible for driving technological innovation at the US Department of defence has resigned, saying the Pentagon needs “structural change” and should behave more like SpaceX, Elon Musk’s satellite company that has shaken up rocket launches.

“We’re falling behind the commercial base in key areas, so we’ve got to catch up,” Preston Dunlap, the first person in the US Department of defence to fulfil the role of chief architect officer, told Bloomberg News in an interview. As a result the US risked losing its technological edge against potential adversaries, he said.

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