How Eric Schmidt is reinventing himself as the prime liaison between Silicon Valley and the US military
The former Google C.E.O. has reinvented himself as the prime liaison between Silicon Valley and the military-industrial complex. — In July 2016, Raymond Thomas …
What makes the liaison role consequential rather than ceremonial is what came next on his own balance sheet: the machine-learning war-machine simulator Ishtari and the AI-drone startup White Stork, both Schmidt-backed or founded, show him converting access into equity.
First-order effects
Schmidt gains a post-Alphabet role with no corporate conflict-of-interest ceiling, letting him broker defense relationships that Google's internal politics made untenable for the company itself.
Defense officials get a single trusted translator for AI procurement questions, replacing ad hoc outreach to companies that have historically resisted military work.
Second-order effects
Schmidt-backed ventures like Ishtari and White Stork become the vehicles through which that access monetizes — White Stork is already pulling engineers from Apple, SpaceX, and Google, competing directly with Big Tech compensation packages.
Other ex-tech executives face pressure to formalize similar defense advisory roles, since the liaison position concentrates deal flow and credibility that would otherwise be diffused across consultancies.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, the Silicon Valley–military interface consolidates around a small set of personally credentialed intermediaries and their portfolio companies rather than direct contractor relationships — a return to the merchant-middleman structure of earlier defense eras, rebuilt around AI.
Talent migration toward well-funded defense-AI startups normalizes military work inside the Valley's career ladder, eroding the reputational barrier that kept most large consumer-tech firms out of weapons-adjacent programs.
The trend: Silicon Valley's re-engagement with the US military is being routed through individual power brokers whose venture portfolios, not their former employers, capture the value.
Hate being click...goes with territory. Rest of story, Schmidt assessment, you (SOCOM) have great people, you prototype pretty effectively, and you suck at machine learning...I give him credit for opening my eyes to the transformative potential of AI. https://www.nytimes.com/...
“You absolutely suck at machine learning,” Google chairman Eric Schmidt told a four-star general in 2016. “If I got under your tent for a day, I could solve most of your problems.” https://www.nytimes.com/... via @NYTimes
Beware of the tight links between Silicon Valley and intelligence agencies and maintain a healthy scepticism when guys like @mcannonbrookes guilt trip you into installing our government's surveillance app for covid https://www.nytimes.com/...
Eric Schmidt, Google's former CEO, has channeled his blunt assessment of the military's tech failings into a personal campaign to revamp America's defense forces and thus become the prime liaison between Silicon Valley and the national security community https://www.nytimes.com/.…
“the U.S. military — which had once been a center of innovation — was falling behind companies like Google and Facebook in software and A.I.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
“Mr. Schmidt is pressing forward with a Silicon Valley worldview where advances in software and A.I. are the keys to figuring out almost any issue” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Generous report of Eric Schmitt's role connecting Pentagon to technology firms. (In my experience, his enthusiasm for supporting DOD doesn't extend to most of Silicon Valley). https://www.nytimes.com/...
.@ericschmidt being involved in helping advise the US military modernize technology and processes strikes me as a very positive thing https://www.nytimes.com/...
I'm not anti-tech and I'm not anti-capital—I'm anti-hubris, and anti-tech determinism. Tech is not a substitute for strategy and will not solve our political problems. Big data does not eliminate the primacy of theory; it's theory with huge blind spots https://www.nytimes.com/...
I wrote a profile of Eric Schmidt, with @CadeMetz. We looked at his work on national defense and spoke to 50+ people from defense, venture capital, Google, & Congress: https://www.nytimes.com/...
The DIB and NSCAI are both chaired by Schmidt. DIB removed whistleblower on Schmidt/Bezos COI. The former ED of DIB joined Google. The former head of DDS formed company with Schmidt on board. To paraphrase @TimothyS: this isn't a revolving door, they're in the same room. https://…
A piece that packs a great deal in about US leadership, Silicon Valley, DoD, established security precepts and emerging technologies, hardware, software and where we are headed — from @CadeMetz and @kateconger https://www.nytimes.com/...
Look out, Peter Thiel. Google's “Mr. Schmidt — by turns thoughtful, pedagogical and hubristic — said he had embarked on an effort to modernize the U.S. military because it was ‘stuck in software in the 1980s.’” https://www.nytimes.com/... via @NYTimes
Eric Schmidt, once the “adult supervision” at Google, is far from retired after leaving the internet co. He's busy saving the US military, which he says is “stuck in software in the 1980s.” @kateconger @CadeMetz https://www.nytimes.com/...