Unit X
After a few articles on the same subject, I read, Unit X, how the pentagon and Silicon Valley or transforming the future of war, by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff.
Somewhat oddly, the protaganists in the book, chose to write their own story and toot their own horns, rather than working with biographer, like Walter Isaacson.
The premise of the book is simple and could have been a story in Wired Magazine:
- The military complex has lost its edge and speed, in part because of a bureaucratic, slow, and politicized procurement process.
- Silicon Valley, with its roots in the Cold War, cares more about emojis than about building technology in the interest of national security.
- The threat is China.
The authors tell the story of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), which they created at Moffett airfield in Mountain View, California, against great resistance from the establishment Washington. They describe their founding and funding tribulations, as well as various successes in bringing better solutions to the war fighter. They also take you along the halls of congress fighting the political machinery.
Even though it all happened in my backyard, I had not heard about DIU. I did meet some similar folks from In-Q-Tel (IQT), the CIA’s venture fund, at an event, looking for opportunities to fund new technology.
Yet, this world isn’t entirely foreign to me, as the company I work for provides key technology to both aerospace and defense companies, including many US prime contractors, and to commercial companies. We also have an active SBIR research program.
Referring to how our software saves the government money by leveraging a commercial of the shelve (COTS) solution, our CEO is quoted saying,
Prime contractors sell hours, we sell anti-hours.
The book highlights the importance of Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contracts, as they are much faster and easier, then the regular route. This book should have been called How Washington needs to redo how it buys military systems.
Lastly, worth noting is the surprising and increasing role of Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, in bridging tech and defense and in the “AI war” with China. He surely isn’t counting his money on an island somewhere.
In summary: interesting to read a few chapters; could have been an article. Yet, be alarmed by China and the hole our defense innovation has fallen into.