Four senior executives at Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI have been formally appointed lieutenant colonels in the US Army following the creation of a “special” unit created for rich Big Tech mavens seeking military leadership roles.
On June 13, the Army announced the creation of Detachment 201, otherwise known as the “Executive Innovation Corps,” which it describes as “a new initiative designed to fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation.”
Four ultra-wealthy executives from top tech companies were sworn in to the unit ahead of President Trump’s heavily promoted military parade, which was itself sponsored by Palantir. The Army’s top spokesman declared that Detachment 201 was “being created to bring in tech innovation executives leaders to help the Army” with the recruitment and the subsequent training of “tech focused people.”
“By bringing private-sector know-how into uniform, Det. 201 is supercharging efforts like the Army Transformation Initiative, which aims to make the force leaner, smarter, and more lethal,” the Army wrote in an official statement.