Pentagon tech advisers want special career track, 'innovation elevator' for big thinkers

Defense News: WASHINGTON — A group of tech industry heavyweights believes the Pentagon needs to protect tech experts and innovators from the department’s traditional up-or-out career path if the department has any hope of keeping up with a wave of new technologies.

The Defense Innovation Board, or DIB, a group empowered to report directly to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on the best way to grow America’s military technological edge, believes the traditional system simply is no longer viable for meeting technological needs.

Instead, it is suggesting a pair of workarounds that can be built into the existing system: a brand-new career specialization track for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professionals, as well as a “tech elevator” that would sequester the best and brightest innovators in the department into a special workspace to develop new ideas.

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