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Immediate Release

Secretary Carter to Travel to California, Texas to Foster Defense Technology Innovation

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will travel to Northern California and Texas Sept. 12-14 to continue advancing one of his top priorities as Secretary of Defense, building and rebuilding bridges between the Pentagon and America’s innovative technology sector.

On Sept. 12 Secretary Carter will return to Silicon Valley, home of DoD’s startup, the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental, or DIUx. Secretary Carter launched DIUx last year, and updated the organization in May to maximize its agility and effectiveness in putting commercially-based innovation into the hands of America's men and women in uniform. The secretary also opened DIUx’s Boston office at the end of July.

During his visit to Silicon Valley, Secretary Carter will meet with DIUx staff and host a roundtable focused on the future of work and the Force of the Future. He will then travel to the San Francisco headquarters of nonprofit artificial intelligence research company OpenAI, where he will meet with artificial intelligence researchers who will brief him on the potential applications and implications of their work.

On Sept. 13, Secretary Carter will attend the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. He will participate in a fireside chat with TechCrunch senior editor Matt Burns to discuss the secretary's vision for the future of the Department of Defense and innovation in a session entitled "Redefining Defense." He will then participate in a recruiting event with the United States Digital Service and the Defense Digital Service to speak with candidates interested in applying their technical expertise to the mission of national defense.

The secretary will then fly to Austin, TX, home of many leading technology companies. On Sept. 14, he will deliver remarks at the Capital Factory technology incubator regarding innovation, and will provide an update on DIUx activities.

Press interested in covering any of these events locally can request contact information from OSD Press Operations at 703-697-5131 or osd.pa.dutyofficer@mail.mil