Pentagon taps former DOGE official to lead its AI efforts
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Mr Gavin Kliger was part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) - billionaire Elon Musk’s 2025 effort to overhaul the US government and cut costs.
PHOTOS: X/@DOWCTO, REUTERS
- Gavin Kliger named Pentagon's chief data officer, alarming critics due to controversial social media posts and ties to extremist figures.
- Pentagon rebuked Anthropic, an American tech company, over AI guardrails, replacing it with OpenAI after a dispute over battlefield AI use.
- Conflict arose as Anthropic refused AI use in autonomous weapons and mass surveillance, while Pentagon seeks flexibility within US law.
AI generated
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on March 6 named as chief data officer a computer scientist who aided billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to overhaul the government
In a social media post, the Pentagon said Mr Gavin Kliger’s new role “places him at the centre of the department’s most ambitious AI efforts,” focusing on “day-to-day alignment and execution of the department’s AI projects, working directly with America’s frontier AI labs to support the warfighter.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for more comment.
Mr Kliger did not immediately return a message.
Mr Kliger, in social media posts between October 2024 and January 2025, has voiced controversial views and reposted content from white supremacist Nick Fuentes and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate.
The Pentagon’s use of artificial intelligence has taken centre stage, after a heated weeks-long dispute with Anthropic over guardrails on how the military can use its AI tools led to last week’s decision by the Trump administration to shun the company
On March 5, the Pentagon slapped a formal supply-chain risk designation on Anthropic - an extraordinary rebuke by the US against an American tech company that was earlier than its rivals to work with the Pentagon.
Anthropic was the most aggressive of its rivals in courting US national-security officials. But the company and the Pentagon have been at odds for months over how the military can use its technology
Anthropic has refused to back down on bans for its Claude AI to power autonomous weapons and mass US surveillance.
The Pentagon has pushed back, saying it should be able to use this technology as needed, so long as it complies with US law. REUTERS
