In mid-June 2025, a claim spread online that the U.S. Army swore in tech executives as lieutenant colonels. The rumor spread on Facebook, X and Reddit. Many claims specified that the Army swore in four Silicon Valley executives with ties to Meta, which owns social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; Palantir, a data analysis software company; and OpenAI, which developed the generative artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.
In a June 13, 2025, news release, the Army announced the swearing-in of four tech executives as lieutenant colonels, a rank that typically takes nearly two decades to achieve. The executives will serve part-time in the Army Reserve as senior advisers. As of this writing, all of the executives either currently hold or once held senior positions at Meta, Palantir or OpenAI. Thus, we rate this claim true.
Per the news release, these executives will serve in a new initiative called "Detachment 201: The Army's Executive Innovation Corps," which is "designed to fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation."
www.snopes.com
In a June 13, 2025, news release, the Army announced the swearing-in of four tech executives as lieutenant colonels, a rank that typically takes nearly two decades to achieve. The executives will serve part-time in the Army Reserve as senior advisers. As of this writing, all of the executives either currently hold or once held senior positions at Meta, Palantir or OpenAI. Thus, we rate this claim true.
Per the news release, these executives will serve in a new initiative called "Detachment 201: The Army's Executive Innovation Corps," which is "designed to fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation."
US Army swore in tech executives as lieutenant colonels
The Silicon Valley executives will serve as senior advisers as part of the U.S. Army Reserve, according to a news release.
www.snopes.com
