Michael Bloomberg nominated to lead Defense Innovation Board
Business mogul and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been nominated to lead the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board.
Department of Defense Press Secretary John Kirby revealed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s nomination of Bloomberg as the board’s chair on Wednesday afternoon. Kirby also announced that eight boards including National Security Education Board and National Security Agency Emerging Technologies Panel will resume operations.
The Defense Innovation Board (DIB) was one of more than 40 civilian advisory boards whose work was halted by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after he took office in January last year.
DIB was founded in 2016 and was previously chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. During that time, it has delivered numerous reports and recommendations for the DOD, including AI principles and a lengthy study on software acquisition.
Members selected to join the board must be approved for security clearances.
According to a report in 2019, Amazon founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos was at one stage up for a spot on the board, but was never sworn in because he did not complete a security clearance.
