Hacking for Defense Turns Five

Originally published for USA ASC Army ALT Magazine by Michael Bold, contract support for Army ALT and writer-editor for Network Runners Inc.

Pete Newell knew something was up when he looked around the Stanford University classroom being used for the first-ever Hacking for Defense class.

“When we taught the first class at Stanford we opened the door for anybody who wanted to come,” Newell, a retired Army colonel who spent the last several years of his career as director of the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force, told Army AL&T in an April interview. “We had 32 students, two teaching assistants and four instructors. So there were 38 of us. The room sat 90 people and it was standing room only.”

Stanford professors, venture capitalists, representatives from other universities, government experts and others had driven in from around Silicon Valley and had flown in from all over the country to witness the class, which unleashed teams of students on unclassified, real-world problems from DOD.

A lot has happened since that first Hacking for Defense class on April 4, 2016.