The White House has nominated Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Michael Groen to lead the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), according to an announcement from Defense Secretary Mark Esper. His appointment to that post requires Senate confirmation.
Groen now serves as deputy chief of computer network operations at the National Security Agency (NSA) in Fort Meade, Md., the announcement says.
If confirmed by the Senate, Groen will succeed the JAIC’s first director, Lt. Gen. John “Jack” Shanahan, who directed the center since its inception in December 2018, and retired earlier this year.
Shanahan, before handing the reins over to Acting Director Nand Mulchandani – formerly the JAIC CTO – said creating an AI curriculum for the department is “one of the cornerstone projects” for the organization over the next year.
