*Unit X*

The subtitle of this new and excellent book is How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are Transforming the Art of War.  It is written not by journalists but two insiders to the process, namely Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchoff.  Here you can read about Eric Schmidt, Brendan McCord, Anduril, Palantir, and much more.

I am not yet finished with the book, in the meantime here is one short excerpt, one that sets the stage for much of what follows:

It turned out that before Silicon Valley tech could be used on the battlefield, we had to go to war to buy it.  We had to hack the Pentagon itself — its archaic acquisition procedures, which prevent moving money at Silicon Valley speed.  In Silicon Valley, deals are done in days.  The eighteen- to twenty-four month process for finalizing contracts used by most of the Pentagon was a nonstarter.  No startup CEO trying to book revenue can wait for the earth to circle the sun twice.  We needed a new way.

And this bit:

Ukraine avoided power interruptions in part because its over-engineered power grid boasts twice the capacity that the country needs — ironically, the system was originally designed by the Soviets to withstand a NATO attack.

The authors understand both the worlds of tech and bureaucracy very well, kudos to them.  Due out in July.