Under new management: the Pentagon’s autonomous systems get new oversight

All of the Pentagon’s drone and counterdrone efforts for air, land, and sea will now fall under a new organization and director who will report to the deputy defense secretary, according to a memo released Wednesday.

“Unmanned and autonomous systems are a strategic priority” and “essential to maintaining decisive military advantage,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a memo dated June 29 that was released Wednesday.

The new czar, called the direct reporting portfolio manager for unmanned offensive and defensive systems, or DRPM-UxS, will oversee all the Pentagon’s unmanned and autonomous initiatives, including the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, plus efforts under the Defense Innovation Unit, military departments, and components.

Leaders of JIATF-401 and DAWG will be “dual-hatted as elements under the DRPM-UxS,” whose director will steer “all missions, functions, and associated programmatic funding lines currently assigned,” effective immediately, the memo states. 

DIU will be the Pentagon’s primary liaison with commercial companies for all “unmanned and autonomous systems programs within the DRPM-UxS portfolio,” the memo states. The DRPM will also serve as the head of the sUAS Industrial Base Working Group.

The move mimics one the Air Force made late last year when it collapsed several of its largest programs, from the B-21 to Sentinel and Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, under the direct reporting portfolio manager for critical major weapons systems role. 

That change followed the Pentagon’s acquisitions overhaul and put Air Force Gen. Dale White in the Senate-confirmed seat. Air Force officials have said the new role has helped get programs back on track, such as the troubled Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, which triggered a Nunn-McCurdy Act review in 2024 due to massive cost overruns. 

It’s unclear whether the DRPM for unmanned systems will require Senate confirmation, or who will fill the position. 

The new DRPM also comes as the Pentagon accelerates plans to use drones across the services to keep up with modern warfare uses, and as lawmakers propose an all-robotics combatant command. 

The reorganization aims to streamline and speed up how the Pentagon and military services buy, develop, and field unmanned systems, the memo suggests. 

For example, the DRPM would also be responsible for existing and future marketplaces where drones and counterdrone systems can be bought—similar to the ones operated by the Army and Navy. New marketplaces can only be created with DRPM-UxS approval, the memo states. 

Some of the first tasks the DRPM for unmanned and related systems would take on: 

• Hiring for management, legal counsel, IT, contracting, and other roles;
• Creating an organization chart delineating responsibilities and authorities across the portfolio;
• Outlining all military service and component programs that would fall under the new portfolio “to include cost, schedule, resourcing, personnel, industry performance, and operational impacts;” 
• Developing an implementation plan; and 
• Providing regular progress and program updates to the deputy defense secretary. 

The memo also creates an executive board chaired by the Pentagon’s no. 2, along with the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, military department heads, and defense undersecretaries for acquisition and research and engineering as members. 

Thomas Novelly contributed to this report.