Former Army AI leader tapped as Pentagon’s next CDAO

Douglas Matty is poised to assume the role of the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Officer on Monday, according to an internal unclassified email viewed by DefenseScoop.

The principal deputy who has been temporarily leading the AI hub ahead of the Trump administration’s selection for the new chief, Margie Palmieri, sent the announcement to several senior officials Friday morning. In the email, she indicated that more communications on the team’s path ahead would soon follow, once Matty takes the reins next week.

Matty previously founded the Army AI Integration Center under Army Futures Command, which he led between 2020 and 2022.

“We are excited to get appointed leadership at the helm of CDAO so early in the administration. The prioritization on filling the top Al and data related leadership position in DoD will enable the Department to better accelerate and scale the adoption of data, analytics, and Al in line with the Secretary’s priorities,” Palmieri wrote. 

Ahead of reaching full operational capacity in 2022, the CDAO merged and integrated four technology-focused predecessor organizations at the Pentagon: the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), Defense Digital Service (DDS), Office of the Chief Data Officer, and the Advana program. 

Commercial tech executive Craig Martell headed the office from its inception until his resignation in early 2024. Defense acquisition expert Radha Plumb served as the second permanent CDAO beginning in April of last year. In December, she shared her plans to depart in January, exclusively with DefenseScoop.

Questions have swirled about the CDAO’s future — and who would take charge as the next chief — since her exit.

As the first official to steer it on a permanent basis under the new Trump administration, Matty will enter at a time when the CDAO is a major player in a range of DOD-wide initiatives that seek to expedite and deliver data analytics, automation, computer vision, machine learning and next-generation AI capabilities for military and civilian personnel.

In the email Friday, Palmieri noted that Matty has “led a distinguished 30 year career as a commissioned officer in the Army, serving in numerous impactful assignments including as an Operations Research Systems Analyst in HQDA, Assistant Professor of Mathematical Sciences, in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army for Business Transformation, on the staff of the Commander of U.S. Forces Iraq, JS J8, CYBERCOM, and as Deputy Director of the Army Artificial Intelligence Task Force.” 

He graduated from West Point with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and earned a doctorate in engineering systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Dr. Matty brings a breadth of knowledge and experience in delivering Al and digital capabilities to both our warfighters and senior decision makers,” Palmieri wrote.