# Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office The **Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO)** is the [[Department of Defense]] office responsible for accelerating the U.S. military's adoption of data, analytics, and artificial intelligence. Established in 2022, it consolidated several predecessor organizations — including the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) and the Defense Digital Service — into a single hub reporting to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. The CDAO is the government owner of the military's flagship lethal-AI programs, including [[Project Maven]] and its deployed [[Maven Smart System]] (built by [[Palantir]]), and it sets the terms under which AI vendors deploy on classified networks. It is led by the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer; the current officeholder is [[Cameron Stanley]], who took the role in January 2026. ## See Also - [[Cameron Stanley]] — current CDAO - [[Project Maven]] / [[Maven Smart System]] — flagship programs - [[Department of Defense]] - [[Defense Tech Ecosystem]] (stub — to be expanded)