Indian-American Raj Iyer Creates History As First Chief Information Officer Of United States Army

Indian-American Dr Raj Iyer has created history by becoming the first Chief Information Officer of the US Army, reports The Hindu.

The post equivalent in rank to a three star General was created by the Pentagon in July 2020 to supervise an annual budget of $16 billion for the US Army's Information Technology (IT) operations.

Now, over 15,000 civilians and military personnel posted across 100 countries will work under him.

Raj Iyer, originally from Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu and an alumnus of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Trichy, will be overseeing the modernisation of the US Army in the digital.

Coming from a humble background, Iyer was able to complete his education in the US by securing a full fellowship.

Iyer holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Arlington along with multiple masters degrees, including a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington.

The development comes at a time when the US Army is leveraging advanced technologies such as cloud computing, robotics and artificial intelligence to maintain overmatch against adversaries such as China and Russia.