{"id":38224,"date":"2024-12-14T13:08:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T21:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=38224"},"modified":"2024-12-14T13:08:16","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T21:08:16","slug":"tech-billionaires-prepare-to-invade-the-pentagon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/14\/tech-billionaires-prepare-to-invade-the-pentagon\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech billionaires prepare to invade the Pentagon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A handful of Silicon Valley executives could help transform the country\u2019s largest bureaucracy \u2014 and benefit themselves while trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elon<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Elon Musk is one of a handful of tech billionaires who will play a role in the next administration. | Pool photo by Brandon Bell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By PAUL MCLEARY<\/a> and JACK DETSCH<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

12\/11\/2024 02:00 PM EST (Politico.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A culture clash is headed for Washington that will pit the risk-embracing, fast-first nature of Silicon Valley against the lumbering bureaucracy of the country\u2019s largest federal agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump has already tapped billionaire finance executives to be Navy secretary and the Pentagon\u2019s No. 2, and startup world successes are in the running for other Pentagon posts. If they all make it, the long-frustrated kings of the Valley who bristle at the doddering pace of Pentagon decision-making could force real change in the building \u2014 and benefit themselves while trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ll be tasked with building weapons faster, fixing a broken shipbuilding system and matching China\u2019s tech prowess. And while every new administration tries to clean up the Pentagon, this crew of outsiders has animated the tech sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of us are hoping there\u2019s a revolution coming,\u201d Joe Lonsdale, founder of software company Palantir and startup investor said at a recent defense forum, \u201cwhere we hold the bureaucracy accountable, where we shock the bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump team has worked to fill the Pentagon with picks such as Stephen Feinberg, a wealthy investor with no experience inside the building, as deputy secretary of Defense. Palantir\u2019s chief technology officer, Shyam Sankar, is being considered for the Pentagon\u2019s top research and engineering job, as POLITICO first reported. Trae Stephens, co-founder and chair of Anduril Industries, is also in the mix for a high-ranking job at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The executives all have investments and stakes in multiple companies working with the Pentagon and will need to determine how they detangle a web of potential conflicts of interest \u2014 such as Anduril\u2019s drone development or Palantir\u2019s software platforms the Pentagon is helping fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Donald
Donald Trump has already tapped billionaire finance executives to be Navy secretary and the Pentagon\u2019s No. 2, and startup world successes are in the running for other Pentagon posts. | Heather Khalifa\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Several other serial investors with deep interests in defense companies \u2014 such as SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen \u2014 are close to Trump and playing a role in putting the new administration together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many in the Valley cheered Trump\u2019s picks, especially those frustrated that the Pentagon hasn\u2019t more fully adopted their tech despite years of conversations and pledges of more cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping the new administration realizes that they have a blank slate and that we\u2019re in a crisis,\u201d said Steve Blank, an entrepreneur who was one of the pioneers of the Silicon Valley tech explosion in the 1980s. \u201cIf you want to respond to a crisis, you can\u2019t keep appointing the same people you did 10 years ago, you can\u2019t have the same organizations you had 10 years ago, and you can\u2019t have the same processes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But any significant changes to how the Pentagon does business won\u2019t come at the commercial tech industry\u2019s breakneck pace. This is especially true of a sprawling bureaucracy built on institutional practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to have to learn how to speak the same language, and even that will take some time,\u201d said one entrepreneur who has had success in getting small contracts with the Pentagon and, like others, was granted anonymity to avoid blowback from the incoming administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tension between the startups and the institution was on display recently at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. The annual event, once a gathering of Republican lawmakers and defense industry executives, has over the past two years been dominated by startup investors looking to elbow their way into defense contracting with drones, lasers, software solutions and other new weapons developed outside of the traditional government-controlled process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Deb Fischer, (R-Neb.), a top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, offered a warning to the newcomers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you look at any kind of efficiencies or cuts to any government program or any government spending, each and every one of us, each and every one of you, needs to propose a program that you personally benefit from that you\u2019d be willing to cut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others also questioned whether the \u201cbreak things\u201d mentality of Silicon Valley can work in an organization with 3 million employees and layers of process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Deb
\u201cWhen you look at any kind of efficiencies or cuts to any government program or any government spending, each and every one of us, each and every one of you, needs to propose a program that you personally benefit from that you\u2019d be willing to cut,\u201d said Sen. Deb Fischer. | Mariam Zuhaib\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe hardest problem by far will be, can they redirect enough money with enough flexibility into next generation programs to move the needle,\u201d one tech executive said. \u201cThat\u2019s like number one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several billionaires with Trump\u2019s ear have already called for<\/a> the F-35 fighter jet and Abrams tank to face the chopping block in favor of drones. Such a move would upend tens of billions of dollars in contracts not only in the U.S., but with dozens of close allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Mag.Schaffer.Jan6Pardons.jpg\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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    Many generals and other Pentagon leaders aren\u2019t bristling at change. But they\u2019re still cautious about moving too fast to alter weapons that, despite their flaws, are effective on the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWarfare is always a human endeavor,\u201d Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said at the Reagan forum. \u201cMy own belief is that the future is really about the most effective human-machine teaming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And many legacy weapons systems, while expensive, have proven that they work against the Russian army in Ukraine, or in shooting down ballistic missiles and drones built by Russia, Iran and North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThere are a number of tech leaders who say, \u2018If I parachute inside of these buildings, I can break things loose,\u2019\u201d said Klon Kitchen, managing director at Beacon Global Strategies, a national security advisory firm. \u201cThis will be the closest Washington and the Valley have been latched up to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Even outspoken billionaires already working with the Pentagon such as Musk \u2014 at least so far \u2014 have had limited success<\/a>. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe U.S. government wants it all, big programs, little programs,\u201d Kitchen said. \u201cWhat the Valley wants is a customer who can actually buy stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A handful of Silicon Valley executives could help transform the country\u2019s largest bureaucracy \u2014 and benefit themselves while trying. Elon Musk is one of a handful of tech billionaires who will play a role in the next administration. | Pool photo by Brandon Bell By PAUL MCLEARY and JACK DETSCH 12\/11\/2024 02:00 PM… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38225,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38224\/revisions\/38225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}