The Senate voted on May 14 to confirm Emil Michael as the Department of Defense’s (DoD) undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and the Pentagon’s next chief technology officer (CTO).
Senators approved the nomination by a 54-43 vote.
Michael – a long-time business executive including a four-year stint as chief business officer at Uber – will take over for James Mazol, who has been performing the duties of undersecretary for R&E during the early months of the second Trump administration. Heidi Shyu was the last person to hold the role in a Senate-confirmed capacity during the Biden administration.
Michael comes to the job from the private sector, where he’s worked as a business executive, advisor, and investor. He previously served in government as special assistant to the secretary of defense when Robert Gates led the Pentagon from 2006 to 2011.
As CTO, Michael will serve as the primary advisor to the secretary of defense and other top leaders on technology development and transition, prototyping, experimentation, and management of testing ranges and activities. He will also oversee the synchronization of science and technology efforts across the department.
During his confirmation hearing last month, Michael said some DoD research and development programs could face cuts, and urged Pentagon leaders to have the discipline to “stop projects that are failing” and to invest in technologies aligned with a “peace through strength” mission.
“I am a firm believer that bringing best practices from the private sector into the Department is a top priority because, if adopted effectively, they will streamline operation and allocate resources more appropriately,” Michael told lawmakers.
He also listed artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, quantum computing, directed energy, and hypersonics among his top priorities.