The Pentagon confirmed that U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios is being tapped to serve as the acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering overseeing the U.S. military’s massive R&D efforts.

Kratsios, who is President Donald Trump’s top technology policy advisor, will also serve as the acting Pentagon chief technology officer. The planned move was earlier reported by Reuters earlier. The Defense Department has the largest research and development budget in the federal government and Kratsios will oversee the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Innovation Unit, Space Development Agency and the DoD Laboratory enterprise. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement the Pentagon sought “someone with experience in identifying and developing new technologies and working closely with a wide range of industry partners. We think Michael is the right person for this job.”

Kratsios will fill the spot left when Mike Griffin, the first undersecretary of defense for research and engineering who left the post recently. Griffin and his deputy, Lisa Porter, have officially opened up a new business together, called Logiq Inc., based in Virginia.

The Pentagon also confirmed that Mark J. Lewis, director of Defense Research and Engineering for Modernization, will serve as Kratsios’ acting deputy at the Pentagon. Kratsios will also oversee the agency’s Modernization Priorities, which include efforts on 5G, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and microelectronics. Kratsios led the development of the White House’s national strategies for AI, 5G, and quantum computing.

Kratsios has also worked on autonomous vehicles, commercial drones and advanced manufacturing at the White House. He will retain his White House role along with the Pentagon assignment. During the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Kratsios has played an important role in the White House’s COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, a private-public partnership with several federal agencies and private sector agencies using supercomputers to stop the spread of the disease. He has also been the point person for the White House on issues such as artificial intelligence and 5G — both of which are technologies that fall under the R&E role.

Source- Reuters