10 U.S.C. § 1766 — Joint reserve detachment of the Defense Innovation Unit

(a) Establishment. After consulting the military-department Secretaries, the Secretary of Defense may establish a joint reserve detachment, called the “Detachment,” made up of reserve-component members described in (b) and assigned to each Defense Innovation Unit office. It supports engagement and collaboration with private industry and the surrounding community and speeds the use and adoption of commercially developed technology for national security.

(b) Members. Each military-department Secretary must select, and try to retain, reserve members with relevant private-sector experience in business, acquisition, intelligence, engineering, technology transfer, science, mathematics, program management, logistics, cybersecurity, or other fields the Defense Secretary identifies.

(c) Duties. The Detachment must give the Defense Department expertise and analysis about commercial technology, commercial technology that could replace technology the Department uses, and opportunities for greater Department-industry cooperation. It must continually partner with military departments^*, combatant commands, and other Defense organizations to identify and rapidly prototype commercial technology and use alternative contracting methods to obtain it. It must increase awareness of the Defense Innovation Unit's work and of Defense technology needs identified in the latest National Defense Strategy, the required National Defense Science and Technology Strategy, and relevant Defense Secretary policy and guidance. It must use private industry's research-and-development investment when assessing and developing dual-use technology. It must perform other activities the Defense Secretary directs.

(d) Joint duty. Assignment to the Detachment is not a joint-duty assignment under section 668(b)(1) unless the Defense Secretary approves it.