The National Security Innovation Network (previously named the MD5 National Security Technology Accelerator) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) program office under the Defense Innovation Unit that seeks to create new communities of innovators to solve national security problems. NSIN partners with national research universities and the venture community to reinvigorate civil-military technology collaboration. As opposed to making investments in specific technologies, government research and development programs, or startups, NSIN focuses on human capital innovation - i.e., developing and enabling innovators and human-centered networks to solve national security problems. In support of this mission, NSIN provides tools, training, and access to DoD assets that enable entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to develop and commercialize high potential products in the national interest. History First conceived in 2015, MD5 launched on October 14, 2016 and was part of the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy. MD5 was formed in partnership with the National Defense University at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C. As of 2018, its headquarters was in Arlington, VA. Adam “Jay” Harrison, former founder and managing director of Mav6 LLC, served as the inaugural director of MD5 from October 2016 until January 2018. The current managing director is Morgan Plummer. On May 6, 2019, the program was renamed from MD5 to NSIN as part of a reorganization in which it was transferred from being directly under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering) into the Defense Innovation Unit. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, NSIN held the hackathons online and started with "Seeing into the Unknown: Situational Awareness in Dense Urban Environments.” More than 200 people signed up and submitted 44 concepts, 5 finalists went on to continue developing their solutions. Structure NSIN consists of a portfolio of programs designed to build a defense innovation workforce that creates ventures relevant to both national security and high-potential civilian applications. These programs are organized in three broad categories: national service, collaboration, and acceleration. NSIN's Collaboration portfolio connects innovators inside and outside of the Department of Defense to solve national security problems. Hacking for Defense, a university-sponsored class that teaches students to work with the DoD to better address national security challenges, was first taught at Stanford University by Steve Blank in the spring of 2016. One team from the pilot class, Capella Space, secured a combination of DoD and