The Sultans of Silicon Valley exercise massive influence over how we work, what we see and hear, what we buy, and whom we vote for. If the recent debacle over restrictions on Starlink and Starshield services in Ukraine is any indication, soon Big Tech could also decide who lives, who dies, and the outcome of global conflicts. We still don’t fully know who gave the order to slow down Kyiv’s drones, or on whose authority; only that Donald Trump and Elon Musk have both announced their disdain for Volodymyr Zelensky.
But then, why are we surprised? America has spent decades encouraging companies to innovate, beat their competitors, and rake in the profits. No wonder they’re now supplying systems that armies can’t fight without.
The problem comes when governments and militaries realize they're no longer the only ones in control of the weapons they wield. The military-industrial complex has never been what one would call a paragon of moral decency. Major defense contractors spend fortunes lobbying Washington, cultivate relationships with Pentagon officials, and work tirelessly to protect and increase their share of the budget.
But once a weapons system has been paid for by the government and transferred to the military, it’s largely out of their hands. Governments buy the equipment, and elected officials and military commanders decide when, where, and against whom to use it. "Nobody has to call the CEO of Lockheed Martin to say we’re about to bomb Iran—can we use your jets?" Sharon Weinberger, editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and author of Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War, told Newsweek.
"I don't want to be in the position of defending the good old defense companies of old, but the difference is that they have had and have guardrails on their behavior." That arrangement is being upended. Modern warfare is heavily reliant on satellite communications, cloud infrastructure, battlefield software, and, of course, artificial intelligence—the stuff produced by Big Tech rather than traditional defense primes. These technologies aren't material assets like artillery shells or tanks that are simply delivered and handed over.
The companies behind them often remain intimately and continuously involved in their operation. "Defense has moved from buying equipment to subscribing to capability, and subscriptions come with a landlord," Daniel Newman, CEO of the Futurum Group, told Newsweek. "When you sell a radio, you're a contractor.
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