Please join the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security for an expert Google Hangout discussion entitled "DOD’s Silicon Valley Outreach: What to Expect?" The session will take place on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, from 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. 

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter recently went to Silicon Valley to explain why the Department of Defense should ally more closely with technology companies in that region. “Strengthening our partnership,” in the areas of “innovation” and “cybersecurity,” he said, is “the only way to build a better world.” He then proceeded to attend meetings with companies like Facebook and venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz (AH) to get more information on “managing technical talent” and how to spot technologies that can change the world, like AH did with Twitter. This government-private sector outreach is something for which some analysts have been waiting, but others are more pessimistic about the ultimate potential in this outreach.

Who is right? And what are the implications of the extended hand by the Pentagon to Silicon Valley? To answer these and other questions, the Atlantic Council has assembled a prominent group of experts to explain where DOD is today in terms of devising and leveraging innovative technologies and where it wants to go in the future.