Maj. Gen. Steven Butow Named to DIU Post to Accelerate Commercial Technology Use

The National Guard Bureau has assigned Maj. Gen. Steven Butow, California Air National Guard commander, to hold the concurrent role of military deputy director for the Defense Innovation Unit at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 

More than 75 active and reserve U.S. military personnel will serve under Butow, a speaker in a past Potomac Officers Club event, to pursue the unit’s mission of accelerating the use of commercial technology. Doug Beck, DIU director, stressed that Butow’s “dual fluency” in military leadership and technological know-how would help deliver “asymmetric advantage” to U.S. and allied warfighters, the DIU said. 

Butow’s experience in the unit started in 2015 as West Coast military lead, and in 2016, he was appointed as the unit’s first space portfolio director. Butow oversaw major DIU projects in the said role, such as harnessing U.S. commercial suppliers of synthetic aperture radar and driving progress in multi-orbit logistics and in-space servicing. 

Butow, the second general or flag officer to become DIU military director, has also served as commander of the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Field in California and deputy director of the U.S. Central Command Joint Search and Rescue Center. 

A former Navy SEAL, retired Rear Adm. Daniel Hendrickson, served as the first DIU military deputy when the unit was still in its experimental stage in 2015.

Since 2016, the DIU has sealed $5.5 billion in commercial agreements with $19.1 billion in counterpart private investments.