The Trump administration has officially launched the “U.S. Tech Force,” a major new federal initiative aimed at recruiting approximately 1,000 elite engineers, data scientists, and technology specialists to significantly accelerate the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and modernize critical federal government infrastructure.
Announced by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the program is framed as a “clarion call” for top talent to serve the country and is a strategic move to secure America’s dominance in the AI arms race against global competitors, particularly China. The initiative closely follows President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order aimed at establishing a “minimally burdensome national policy framework” for AI, which seeks to preempt conflicting state-level AI regulations.
The U.S. Tech Force is designed as a highly compensated, short-term talent injection program for the federal government. Participants commit to a two-year employment program, during which they will work in specialized teams that report directly to agency leaders. The initial cohort of approximately 1,000 technologists will be placed across a wide variety of federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Labor, and Health and Human Services, as well as the IRS and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Most of the roles are anticipated to be based in Washington, D.C.
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The focus of the engineering corps is on “high-impact technology initiatives,” which include:
- AI implementation across federal services.
- Application development for new digital services.
- Data modernization of legacy systems.
- Digital service delivery improvements for the American public.
To successfully compete with lucrative private-sector compensation, annual salaries for the Tech Force members are expected to range from $150,000 to $200,000, plus full federal benefits. These roles will typically be classified at the senior General Schedule levels, likely falling into the GS-13 or GS-14 categories, depending on experience and location.
The OPM Director, Scott Kupor, emphasized the program’s unique value proposition, asking: “Do you want to do good for the country, and also, do you want to advance your career?”
A foundational element of the U.S. Tech Force is its deep partnership with the American technology industry, designed to establish a “two-way talent mobility mechanism” between the public and private sectors. The program has secured commitments from approximately 25 leading technology companies to participate, including virtually every major player in cloud computing and AI development. The initial list includes:
- Cloud/Infrastructure: Amazon Web Services, Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Oracle.
- AI/Software: Google Public Sector, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Salesforce.
- Others: Apple, Meta, Adobe, IBM.
The private partners will provide valuable career development resources and mentorship to the Tech Force members during their government tenure. Upon completing the two-year program, these companies have formally committed to actively considering the program’s alumni for full-time employment, effectively creating a high-prestige pipeline into top technology firms.
The partnership also allows the companies to nominate their own employees to take temporary leaves of absence for short service stints within government agencies. This mechanism is intended to directly inject real-world, cutting-edge private-sector expertise and technical skills into the federal government’s technology teams.
The National AI Policy Framework
The Tech Force initiative is directly tied to the President’s December 11, 2025, Executive Order, “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence.” This order outlines a federal strategy to sustain U.S. global AI dominance through a “minimally burdensome” national policy, a clear victory for Silicon Valley companies that have long lobbied against a patchwork of state-level AI regulations.
The Executive Order’s key directives to achieve this framework include:
- Establishing an AI Litigation Task Force in the Department of Justice to challenge state AI laws deemed inconsistent with the federal minimally burdensome standard.
- Directing the Secretary of Commerce to identify “onerous” state AI laws and evaluate whether certain federal funding, such as the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, should be conditioned on states not enacting or enforcing conflicting AI laws.
By launching the U.S. Tech Force immediately after this policy directive, the administration is simultaneously attempting to secure the technological talent necessary for federal AI implementation and assert federal authority over the regulatory landscape, especially in the face of a standoff with states.