The U.S. national security apparatus in 2021 signed on to a trilateral partnership with the United Kingdom and Australia that has come to be known as AUKUS. The partnership, as the Pentagon explains, is intended to strengthen the ability of each government to support security and defense interests, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, building on longstanding and ongoing bilateral ties. And it will promote deeper information sharing and technology sharing; and foster deeper integration of security and defense-related science, technology, industrial bases and supply chains.

Back in December, a group led by private sector defense innovation firm BMNT launched the AUKUS Defense Investors Network — a network of leading private capital investors from 300+ institutional venture capital firms, corporate venture capital (CVC) groups and family offices from the three nations. d military capabilities in cyber, AI, quantum, undersea capabilities, hypersonics, counter-hypersonics, EW and information sharing – areas where private sector investment can accelerate government investment in developing solutions to critical security challenges.

Heather Jo Richman is the founder and co-chair of the AUKUS DIN. For much of her career, Richman has served in roles serving alongside the U.S. DOD and the Intelligence Community to create ecosystems of innovators and investors to engage in national security-focused problem solving on all levels. I recently spoke with Heather from her home in the Silicon Valley area in California to learn more about the new AUKUS DIN.

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