Arlington, VA –
On August 14, 2025, the Deputy Secretary of Defense directed that the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO) be realigned under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)), effective immediately.
The realignment of the CDAO to USD(R&E) will accelerate Department-wide AI transformation. The Department of Defense (DoD) seeks to become an AI-first enterprise, one that rapidly adopts cutting-edge commercial AI technologies, exploits data at scale to generate operational advantage, and leads the discovery of new ways to fight and win. This strategic transformation strengthens that effort, while directly implementing the White House AI Action Plan’s directive to drive AI adoption within the DoD.