Pentagon Names Cameron Stanley Next Digital and AI Chief
Cameron Stanley built Project Maven, the AI system now running targeting across the Middle East, and the Pentagon just hired him to scale that across the entire military in months.
The Pentagon has named Cameron Stanley as Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer. This was announced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on January 12, 2026. Stanley isn't new to The Pentagon.
From 2021 to 2022, he led Project Maven, the department's flagship initiative to integrate computer vision and machine learning into warfighter operations. Maven algorithms now actively support targeting and surveillance across Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the Red Sea, demonstrating what happens when military AI moves from research to real-world deployment.
Before Maven, Stanley served as Chief Data Officer for the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. Most recently, he was national security digital transformation lead at Amazon Web Services.
The new Department of War AI strategy, released this month, contains language that would have been unthinkable in previous administrations: "The risks of not moving fast enough outweigh the risks of imperfect alignment."
Stanley and his team will define deployment metrics for all "pace-setting projects" within 30 days and report monthly on progress. The goal is to compress AI development cycles from years to quarters. Under Stanley's leadership, the CDAO office will attack three specific barriers to speed. Data sharing, authority to operate (ATO), and contracting.
The Acceleration Plan
Stanley's mandate spans three distinct fronts. First, infrastructure. The Pentagon is expanding AI computing power on military installations and unlocking 20+ years of combat-proven operational data for model training and enhancement.
Second, integration. The department is deploying frontier AI models like Grok, Gemini, and others directly onto classified and unclassified military networks.
Third, operationalization. Unlike previous AI initiatives that lingered in pilots, pace-setting projects will be live within 90-180 days. Initial priority areas include autonomous systems, simulation, and enterprise automation, all designed to compress decision cycles and amplify warfighter effectiveness.
Stanley is clear that he needs speed and innovation from defense contractors and technology companies. In recent remarks, he stated that alternative contracting pathways like Other Transaction Authority (OTA) will help, but execution matters more than structure.
"We're looking for creativity on the execution side to help us actually deliver those solutions faster, better and more effectively than we have previously," said Stanley.
Traditional defense contractors accustomed to 18-month procurement cycles face pressure to adapt. Stanley is saying that the Pentagon will work with whoever can move fastest, whether traditional defense primes or Silicon Valley startups.
China's rapid military AI development has long driven Pentagon urgency. Stanley's mandate suggests that urgency is now institutionalized. Project Maven proved that military AI can work operationally. Stanley's challenge is scaling that across the entire defense department.