Captain Andrew Privette

Chief Technology Officer, PAE RAS U.S. Navy

Captain Andrew J. Privette has served since August 2025 as the Chief Technology Officer for the Navy's Portfolio Acquisition Executive – Robotic and Autonomous Systems (PAE RAS), driving the strategic integration of unmanned platforms across maritime domains in support of Fleet and Combatant Commander priorities. He has been integral to the organization's stand-up, identifying Navy-wide systems and their associated budgets, shaping the foundational structure of the new command, and establishing the innovative processes that distinguish it from prior organizations.

At sea, CAPT Privette began his career as a submarine officer aboard USS OHIO (SSGN 726), where he supported the first-of-its-kind S8G reactor refueling and strategic missile conversion. He subsequently served as a tactics instructor at Navy Submarine School. He deployed to Liberia as a United Nations Military Observer in support of stabilization operations. He was then selected for lateral transfer to the Engineering Duty Officer (EDO) community, completing graduate studies at MIT and an EDO qualification tour at SSC Pacific.

Ashore, CAPT Privette served as Divisional Director of Systems Engineering for the MUOS program within PEO C4I (PMW-146), where he established system engineering processes, implemented an enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategy, and drove down lifecycle cost through a system-wide technology shift and architectural changes across the ground, spacecraft, and waveform product lines. He next served as Program Manager at NSFA for a $2B+ ACAT I-equivalent space-to-ground communications program, leading the end-to-end delivery of a national intelligence system that provided time-critical intelligence to forward-deployed warfighters and national decision makers. His leadership there earned the NRO Team of the Year, NRO Program Manager of the Year, and the Director's Circle Award, recognizing the top 1.5% of the NRO workforce. CAPT Privette subsequently served as a Program Manager at NAVWAR and as Officer in Charge of NIWC LANT Detachment Naples, where he led a 50-person forward-deployed team and coordinated over 500 engineers and technicians on more than 100 communications and cyber projects across Europe and Africa. He then served as Capabilities Development Director for Commander, Task Force SIX SIX/ONE SIX SIX, advancing the integration of robotic and autonomous systems into Fleet operations in contested maritime environments. There he directed a "conveyor belt" of hardware and software capabilities tested in the "Black Sea Battle Lab," supported the Ukraine Maritime Capabilities Coalition, and led the integration of five platforms and more than 25 vehicles across all domains—directly enabling 11 Joint, Allied, and partner exercise events. He also served as Battle Watch Captain for NAVEUR/NAVAF/C6F and within Joint Task Force 406.