Owen West
Director of the Defense Innovation Unit and chief executive of the Pentagon's drone portfolio office.
On 30 September, Owen West became chief executive of the Pentagon’s unmanned-systems portfolio office as it prepares Project Agincourt for an Autonomous Warfare Command.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Timeline for Owen West
Mentioned in: Hegseth plans a four-star drone command
Drones: Industry & DefenceBackground
Owen West, Born in 1969, directs the Defense Innovation Unit and, since 30 September 2026, serves as chief executive of the Pentagon's unmanned-systems portfolio office.
He is a former Marine Corps officer and Goldman Sachs natural-gas trader. He served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict from 2017 to 2019. Pete Hegseth named him director of the Defense Innovation Unit on 14 January 2026, and he took over at a ceremony at Fort Benning in March 2026.
The two posts give West charge of both ends of the Pentagon's drone effort: the unit that buys commercial technology for the military, and the office that oversees every unmanned programme and is preparing the new command.
West leads the drone portfolio
Under the memo of 30 September 2026, Owen West took the chief executive's POST at the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems while keeping his job as director of the Defense Innovation Unit. The office now runs Project Agincourt, the groundwork for an Autonomous Warfare Command.
The command West is preparing would be a four-star headquarters with its own budget and buying powers, due by 1 October 2027 if Congress agrees. His task is to turn Drone Dominance and the counter-drone task force JIATF-401, which Hegseth called a good start but not enough, into the core of a single command.