OpenAI announced Monday that a new role called “Senior Counselor for National Security Modernization” would exist, and be filled by none other than former Trump Administration Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.

OpenAI’s announcement explains that Driscoll’s job will be to provide guidance on how AI might “strengthen national and cyber security, with a particular focus on working with U.S. allies to advance its responsible use.” Meanwhile, OpenAI’s teams will receive the benefit of his knowledge of the “operational needs of global national security institutions,” it adds.

Driscoll, who is quoted in the announcement, spells out at least some of what he thinks militaries need, saying AI “will help them keep pace by cutting through paperwork, making sense of more information, and getting the right answer to the right person faster.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says OpenAI’s hiring of Driscoll will help the U.S. while it has an “extraordinary opportunity to work with other countries to spread the adoption of democratic AI.”

Driscoll reportedly resigned from his Pentagon role under unfriendly circumstances in August. According to an anonymously-sourced Politico story, the resignation apparently followed a series of disagreements with Secretary of Defense/War Pete Hegseth that stretched out over months.

Notably, Politico describes the nature of the disagreement as having “revolved around initiatives to modernize the service.” Though it also says firings of popular Pentagon figures like Army Chief of Staff Randy George were a factor.

D. Vance, whom he knows from attending Yale Law School together . A write-up from his undergrad alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says he served in Iraq in 2009, receiving the Army Commendation Medal and Combat Action Badge.

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