Video: Driving DoD Innovation: CDAO’s Vision for Open DAGIR
Dr. Radha Plumb, Department of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO), joined Dcode CEO Meagan Metzger for a virtual Fireside Chat. As CDAO, Dr. Plumb leads the DoD’s efforts to accelerate the adoption of data, analytics, and artificial intelligence from the boardroom to the battlefield to enable decision advantage.
Meagan and Dr. Plumb discussed CDAO’s Open DAGIR initiative, a new approach to scaling data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities; getting the best technology to the warfighter through transparent and collaborative acquisition; and how frequent experimentation, such as through the Global Information Dominance Experiments, leads to better and more rapid outcomes for the DoD and industry, including non-traditional suppliers.
Open DAGIR is a multi-vendor ecosystem with supporting business models that enables industry and government to integrate data platforms, development tools, services, and applications in a way that preserves government data ownership and industry intellectual property.
Meet The Speakers
Dr. Radha Plumb assumed the role of Department of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, a Principal Staff Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense on April 9, 2024. In this role she is leading the acceleration of the DoD’s adoption of data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) to generate decision advantage.
Prior to this appointment, she served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (DUSD(A&S)) and was responsible to the Under Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to acquisition; contract administration; logistics and materiel readiness; installations and environment; operational energy; chemical, biological, and nuclear defense; the acquisition workforce; and the defense industrial base.
Previous DoD assignments include serving as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, where she was responsible for leading the executive staff, providing counsel and advice to the Deputy Secretary, and ensuring Deputy-led governance processes were aligned with key leadership priorities. In addition, she served as Acting Deputy Director of Administration and Management within the Department of Defense.
Prior to her appointment as Chief of Staff, she was the Director of Research and Insights for Trust & Safety at Google and had previously served as Global Head of Policy Analysis at Facebook. Before her Silicon Valley work, Dr. Plumb was a senior economist at the RAND Corporation where she focused on improving measurement and evaluation of readiness and security efforts across the Department of Defense. In that capacity she served as lead author on a number of critical reports including assessing the implications of open service of Transgender Service members and review of security and suitability screening efforts.
From 2014-2015, Dr. Plumb served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Energy, where she led policy processes including budget and policy reviews related to modernizing nuclear infrastructure and efforts to enhance energy sector security and resilience. Previously, she was the director of personnel and readiness at the National Security Council, where she was instrumental on executive actions on sexual assault in the military. She also served as policy advisor and Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, and as a civilian in Afghanistan conducting measurement and assessment work to support the Counterinsurgency Advisory and Assistance Team for the Commander, International Security Assistance Force.
Dr. Plumb received her Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University. Her research has covered empirical evaluations of policies aimed at reducing violence, including criminal violence, sexual assault, terrorist behavior, and sexual and intimate partner violence. At the outset of her career, she was an assistant professor at the London School of Economics and a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Scholar at Harvard.
Meagan Metzger is the Founder and CEO of Dcode, a company at the forefront of empowering the federal government to leverage technology to enhance our government's competitive edge on the global stage. In addition to her role at Dcode, Meagan is a founder and General Partner at Dcode Capital, a venture capital firm investing in growth-stage emerging tech companies alongside other top-tier venture firms, such as GV, NEA, and Social Capital.
Her influence extends beyond Dcode, as she serves on the Board of Directors for the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum (DEF), is a founder and a Board member for the Alliance for Commercial Technology in Government, and previously served on the Federal Advisory Board for Wickr, which was acquired by AWS. Meagan boasts several awards, including the Washington Business Journal 40 under 40, the FCW Federal 100 award, and the Top 50 Women in Technology.
As COO at Effia, Meagan helped more than double the company’s growth and drove the company’s visions of rapid prototyping of commercial capabilities in transformative government missions. As Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at P3, she propelled the company’s growth to secure Washington Technology's Fast 50 recognition as one of the fastest-growing companies in the D.C. area for three consecutive years. There she also served as the primary leader for programs that overhauled multi-billion government IT systems, driving critical innovation and saving millions in taxpayer dollars. Meagan holds a degree in Applied Science and Technology and Business from The George Washington University.