The United States Government and Silicon Valley occasionally cross paths, whether it's in disagreement over encryption issues or to help regulate new technology, such as self-driving cars. Sometimes, of course, Silicon Valley's great tech minds come to the aid of the government, offering new technology to help them manage the country more efficiently or in new ways. Very rarely, however, do we see a Silicon Valley bigwig directly helping the government by doing things like serving on advisory boards. According to an announcement by the United States Defense Secretary, Ash Carter, on Wednesday, that's exactly what we're seeing right now. The bigwig in question, is former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
After stepping down from the illustrious post of Google CEO back in 2011, Schmidt has recently been keeping order in the Googleplex as the executive chairman of Alphabet. Meanwhile, he's been putting his expertise to good use such as participating in the Bilderberg Group. His newest adventure is serving on a Pentagon advisory board aimed at bringing the best practices, knowledge and skills of Silicon Valley to bear as innovations to serve the United States Military. Specifically, Schimidt will be the head of that board. Alongside secretary Carter, Schmidt will hand pick 12 people who have demonstrated a history of innovation and leadership to serve on the board.
Secretary Carter is set to meet with Schmidt during the annual RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco, which started on February 29 and is still going strong until March 4. Their discussion will center around the new board, but further details were not revealed. It's safe to assume that there will be some discussion of how the board will take shape and perhaps some initial thoughts of possible names to serve on it. One senior defense official said that Carter is trying to "keep the department thinking fresh, bringing in new ideas, bringing in new voices" with this new board. Further details about the way the board will work and what their role will be in the future of the Department of Defense will likely be revealed after the conference ends, but nothing has been announced as of now.
