Additional reporting confirms Driscoll hire and notes Kalinowski resignation following 2026 Pentagon deal
Updated todayNew2 sources
OpenAI Hires Esper and Driscoll to Build National Security AI Team
The gist
OpenAI is building a dedicated national security team by recruiting officials with direct Pentagon and procurement experience. The departure of an internal leader over the Pentagon deal, and the concurrent hiring of two former defense officials, reflects ongoing internal and external debate about the boundaries of OpenAI's military work.
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The full picture
OpenAI has brought on two former senior defense officials to expand its national security work. Dan Driscoll, former Army Secretary, has been appointed Senior Counselor for National Security Modernization, a newly created role focused on advising governments and companies on AI for national and cyber security, with an emphasis on U.S. allied collaboration. Mark Esper, who served as Defense Secretary under Trump until being fired in November 2020, has also been hired to help grow OpenAI's military AI business. Esper previously spent seven years running government relations at Raytheon. Driscoll departed his Army Secretary post two months before joining OpenAI amid friction with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who had removed officers linked to Driscoll's modernization initiatives. The hires follow OpenAI's 2026 Pentagon deal, after which hardware leader Caitlin Kalinowski resigned over concerns about a rushed process and limits on surveillance and autonomous weapons.
How it developed
OpenAI reported to have hired Mark Esper to expand military AI work
Sources
Rohan Paul on X
- Anthropic's Pentagon contract blacklisting
- Anthropic's Pentagon supply chain blacklist
- The Pentagon blacklisting of Anthropic
- Google DeepMind's Pentagon AI contract
BackgroundGoverning AI: liability, regulation and geopolitics
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