DDS gets new director as Lynch steps down

The Defense Digital Service's founding director is stepping down after four years on the job, the Pentagon announced today.

Chris Lynch, who had led DDS since its establishment in 2015, will step down later this month, according to an announcement released by DOD today. Lynch will be replaced by Brett Goldstein, who most recently served as special adviser to the Navy.

"Although we will miss Chris, the unique startup culture he built and the talented team he recruited will continue to disrupt and transform technology at the DOD," acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said in the statement. "We are excited for Brett to be taking on the role of director to build and expand the team and its work. His public and private sector knowledge, technical expertise, and commitment to improving government through technology will be invaluable to a range of critical missions across the department."

Goldstein launched the venture capital firm Ekistik Ventures after serving as chief information officer for the city of Chicago between 2011 and 2013. Previously, he had served five years in the Chicago Police Department, attaining the rank of commander. He began his career as one of the first employees of OpenTable.

DDS grew out of the U.S. Digital Service established at the White House under the Obama administration. It is charged with bringing in talent, technologies and processes from the private sector to solve DOD problems.

As co-founder and director of DDS, Lynch led a range of the group's efforts over the past few years, including its bug bounty "Hack the Pentagon" program, reforming digital services for military health benefits, and helping to build out the next-generation GPS, according to the DOD announcement.

Lynch also led the early development of the Pentagon's potentially $10 billion cloud program, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI). The program is seen as an important pathfinder for DOD to take advantage of technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning, but has also courted controversy. Oracle is currently suing the government over DOD's plan to award only one contract for the JEDI program.