The Department of Defense has named Gavin Kliger as its Chief Data Officer, a position the Pentagon says "places him at the center of the Department’s most ambitious AI efforts," and will concentrate on the "day-to-day alignment and execution of the Department’s AI projects, working directly with America’s frontier AI labs to support the warfighter."
Official communications from the department framed the role as central to coordinating and operationalizing AI work across defense projects and external research partners. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for more comment on the appointment.
The announcement has drawn attention because of public posts Kliger made on social media between October 2024 and January 2025. In those posts he voiced controversial views and reposted material attributed to public figures identified in those posts as white supremacist Nick Fuentes and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate. The department's statement did not address the social media content directly.
The appointment coincides with heightened public focus on how the Pentagon will use AI. A recent, weeks-long dispute between the administration and the AI company Anthropic over guardrails governing military use of that company’s tools culminated last week in a decision by the administration to shun Anthropic and replace it with OpenAI for certain engagements. That shift has placed vendor relationships and the control mechanisms around military AI applications in the spotlight.
Observers note the new chief data officer will be responsible for aligning internal projects and managing interactions with frontier AI labs. The department's description emphasizes operational alignment and direct work with external AI developers to deliver capabilities intended to support service members.
How the Pentagon will address concerns tied to the appointee’s past social media activity, and how vendor dynamics will evolve after the recent change from Anthropic to OpenAI, were not detailed in the department’s release. Those questions remain outstanding as implementation of AI initiatives advances within the department.
Summary
The Department of Defense has named Gavin Kliger Chief Data Officer to lead core AI coordination and execution work; his prior social media activity and a recent vendor shift from Anthropic to OpenAI have brought heightened scrutiny.