SAN DIEGO — Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google parent company Alphabet, spent parts of two days with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter this week in an attempt to get a better sense of how the department operates.

The Alphabet head joined Carter during a visit to Kirtland Air Force Base Tuesday, where he sat in on a troop talk given by the secretary. He also accompanied him on a trip to the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory, and briefly toured Carter's plane before splitting from the secretary's party Wednesday afternoon.

A senior defense official described the visit as Schmidt "trying to learn more about our defense mission and particularly the innovation side of our defense mission." 

"He wanted to be with the secretary to learn more about the nuclear enterprise in particular, and I think it was an opportunity for him to not just engage with the secretary, but to engage with some of the people involved in that mission, because it would be important for the innovation board to have a better understanding of it," the official said.

Schmidt is the head of the Defense Innovation Board, a Carter creation first announced by the secretary during a March 2 visit to Silicon Valley. The 15-member board includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the former head of US Special Operations Command, Adm. Bill McRaven, and scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

In July, Carter described the group’s job as "keeping DoD imbued with a culture of innovation in people, organizations, operations, and technology, to support people who innovate, those creative figures in our department who are willing to try new things, fail fast, and iterate; and also to ensure that we’re always doing everything we can to stay ahead of potential adversaries."

The board previously announced that it would meet in October to develop suggestions for Carter, and the Pentagon official said Schmidt took time out of his schedule to spend the two days learning about the department to help direct those conversations.

Los Alamos is home to Plutonium Facility 4, the US government’s science, technology and manufacturing center for plutonium. Press were not invited to visit the lab, but a Los Alamos press release said Carter visited the pit casting area, "where molten plutonium is shaped into a pit, the plutonium core of a nuclear weapon."

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter visits the Los Alamos laboratories Sept. 28, 2016.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Los Alamos

The official said Carter met with leadership there to thank them for their work, and to "see first- hand some of the work they’re doing, research work and otherwise, as part of the nuclear enterprise."

But despite the nuclear focus at Los Alamos, the defense official said the Innovation Board is not locked in on nuclear issues in particular, but rather is looking at everything done in the research labs to get a broader sense of the department.

"There are other things [the labs] are doing that I think Eric thinks would be worthwhile for the innovation board to hear what they’re doing," the official said. "One thing [the board members are] also doing, and I don’t want to speak for Eric, but they are also making sure that they are looking at things that maybe we’re not doing. Part of it is not to duplicate efforts. Just seeing him engage with the secretary and other people, I think this was a learning experience for Eric Schmidt, and part of the due diligence he’s doing on the innovation board."

About Aaron Mehta

Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.

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