According to the Pentagon, Carter and Schmidt will choose up to 12 members for the panel, which will be composed of people who've led both private and public companies and have a knack for picking out new tech. What's more, the group's experience with prototyping, product development, analysis, mobile apps and the cloud will be used to help develop new solutions for the military. Further details are scarce for now, but once the selection process begins, we'll be interested to see if big names from other tech outfits make the cut. This isn't the first time the government has reached out to Silicon Valley recently either. Last spring, the Department of Defense announced a new cyberunit would set up shop there to foster collaboration when it comes to matters of cybersecurity.