Trump is building an « American tech force » of 1,000+ early-career workers

The Trump administration launched America’s Tech Force, an intergovernmental early-career program that aims to « recruit top technologists to modernize the federal government, » according to a press release from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

As part of the initiative, government agencies will attract an initial group of 1,000 early-career technologists who will be employed by government agencies to work one or two year fellowships. OPM aims for about 30 to 40 Tech Force associates in most major agencies.

In addition, the government will hire a total of 500 project management and data science associates next spring, as well as 200 unpaid interns studying in technology programs under the Semester of Service volunteer program.

« US Tech Force Fellows will gain unique skills and experience working on important, high-impact projects, giving fellows the opportunity to apply and deploy technology at scale in ways they could not do in the private sector, » the Office of Personnel Management said in a memo.

Applications are open and accepted on a rolling basis. For those who make it, the approximate salary range is $150,000 to $200,00. There is a long list of participating federal agencies, with a tentative list including the Departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Labor, Commerce, Energy, Transportation, Homeland Security, and more.

According to CNN, the fellows will work on projects such as building AI-integrated drones and weapons, incorporating AI into intelligence practices and building the platform that will be used for the Trump Accounts.

The initiative aims to address skills gaps and boost the adoption of AI in the federal workforce and is part of Trump’s « AI Action Plan, » which the administration announced in July with the purported goal of beating China in the global AI race.

« Tech Force will accelerate the use of AI to make our government more responsive and efficient, » the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy wrote in an X post on Monday.

The early career program also comes at a time when young graduates are facing one of the toughest job markets in years, and artificial intelligence is widely seen as a factor in that equation.

As with many other AI programs of the Trump era, the private sector is also deeply entrenched in this one. The program seeks to recruit experienced technologists directly from the private sector to mentor fellows in their early careers, and many technology companies are joining to support the initiative with technical training. The initial lineup includes Nvidia, OpenAI, Adobe, Amazon Web Services, Apple, Coinbase, Google Public Sector, Robinhood, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, Uber, xAI, and more, with the list growing.

« Sharing elite technology talent is yet another way Amazon is helping advance America’s leadership in AI, » AWS vice president of global public sector Dave Levy said in the release.

Sharing talent between the private and public sectors to scale AI is an unusual move, but not for Trump 2.0. Many high-ranking officials in the Trump administration come directly from the private sector, including his “AI & Crypto Czar” David Sachs, a venture capitalist who has been in hot water over the past month for what many see as a conflict of interest stemming from his many tech investments. Sachs will be one of the government officials leading the Tech Force program.

The president also tapped Elon Musk to lead the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency « agency. » Then, in June, four Silicon Valley executives — Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, OpenAI chief product officer Kevin Weil and Thinking Machines Lab adviser Bob McGrew — joined the Army Reserve as direct-duty officers.