The Army launched a new website to recruit more tech experts after announcing a new program where four top executives from major companies like Palantir and Meta were commissioned into the Reserve.
“We are looking for leaders who can drive innovation, accelerate modernization, and inspire a new generation of service — and we’re doing so through a groundbreaking initiative: Detachment 201,” the website states.
In other words, they’re looking to bring in tech bros from a multi-billion dollar industry, pin some shiny rank on their collars and put them in a uniform so they can help the Defense Department catch up with the private sector.
The service announced Detachment 201 earlier this month with tech executives from Palantir, Meta, Open AI and Thinking Machines Lab who were sworn into the Army Reserve as lieutenant colonels June 13. The new officers are Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer for Palantir; Bosworth, chief technology officer of Meta; Kevin Weil, chief product officer of OpenAI; and Bob McGrew, an advisor at Thinking Machines Lab and former chief research officer for OpenAI.
Maj. Matt Visser, an Army spokesperson, said that the program is open to “anyone with those skillsets” — not just tech millionaires at the largest Silicon Valley-based companies.
As of Wednesday, the Army had nearly 150 tech bro (or gal) hopefuls send their resumes in.
Candidates will be subject to a similar process and evals that the four tech execs went through — a “strict screening” process with Army Human Resources Command followed by a board of Army officers deciding the applicable rank for they should enter into service at based on their skillsets — a typical process for officers entering the Army as a direct commission, Visser said.
“Through a direct commission as an Army Reserve officer, you’ll offer a unique level of commitment – ‘skin in the game’ – fostering trust and collaboration with active duty units,” the website states.
Direct commissions into the military are not new, and are regularly used for highly specialized career fields, such as medicine.
The site states that Detachment 201 officers will help the Army move fast and break things — basically weave new technology into its formations more quickly. Officials did not give specific examples of what the programs or projects will look like for the current or future officers.
The already commissioned lieutenant colonels will have to do a two-week direct officer commissioning course — some of it online. They will do marksmanship training and take the Army Fitness Test as a diagnostic test, which won’t directly impact whether or not they make it into the program. The list of requirements these officers will have to meet to enter the role and remain in their position isn’t entirely clear, nor is it clear at this time how those requirements compare to other soldiers of equivalent rank.
The reservists are coming in as cyber officers under an eight-year contract. Their workloads and assignments will be largely up to their local chain of command.
The idea was born in Fall 2024 from the chief talent officer for the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. The Army got wind of the potential for recruiting tech execs in late February 2025, officials said.
Sankar, the chief tech officer for Palantir, was the so-called brainchild behind the idea and informally recruited the other three officers, Army officials said.
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