Tech Executives Commissioned as Senior Army Officers

[neurosis]

What in F's sakes is going on here? 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/06/27/tech-executives-commissioned-senior-army-officers-wont-recuse-themselves-dod-business-dealings.html

for the newly commissioned executives of Palantir

WTF? 

"Four big tech executives the Army directly commissioned to be lieutenant colonels, with no military background, will not recuse themselves from business dealings with the Department of Defense -- as the Pentagon, particularly the Army, cozies up to Silicon Valley.

Earlier this month, the Army announced Detachment 201, the name being a reference to HTTP code, for the newly commissioned executives of Palantir, Meta and OpenAI. The new formation is set to recruit tech executives to work on major Army challenges, but the service has not articulated exactly what those individuals would do -- instead focusing on recruiting talent and creating jobs around them."

[Brian]

[Smit]

Fkn crazy.

[neurosis]

[Newbeeee™]

Klaus told you - we're entering an age of private/gov partnershits.
You must pay more attention....

[neurosis]

Klaus told you - we're entering an age of private/gov partnershits.
You must pay more attention....

The "Mango Mussolini" comments were supposed to be jokes.

I keep wondering if there is ever going to be a bridge too far?

[YoDoug]

What in F's sakes is going on here? 

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/06/27/tech-executives-commissioned-senior-army-officers-wont-recuse-themselves-dod-business-dealings.html

WTF? 

"Four big tech executives the Army directly commissioned to be lieutenant colonels, with no military background, will not recuse themselves from business dealings with the Department of Defense -- as the Pentagon, particularly the Army, cozies up to Silicon Valley.

Earlier this month, the Army announced Detachment 201, the name being a reference to HTTP code, for the newly commissioned executives of Palantir, Meta and OpenAI. The new formation is set to recruit tech executives to work on major Army challenges, but the service has not articulated exactly what those individuals would do -- instead focusing on recruiting talent and creating jobs around them."

If you read the part you selected for quote, it seems kind of suspect. If you read the whole article including "They're not making acquisition decisions, they're not senior decision makers". It seems a lot less sinister. The article also talks about needing to change the snails pace that military normally moves at when it comes to change.

IMO, Technology is changing the future of war. We need to be ready. That being said, the commissioning of tech execs is going to come down to transparency, oversight, and accountability. Until then, yes, any conflicts of interest should be open and discussed, but we shouldn't just fall to click bait speculating corruption. And for the record, I think that just about every tech CEO/exec are greedy POS that will sell out the American dream for their own personal gains.

[neurosis]

It seems a lot less sinister.

They're creating an express lane between everyone's personal information and our military.

The merging of the State and private sector should already be concerning. This just seems off the charts f-n nuts.

[Newbeeee™]

They're creating an express lane between everyone's personal information and our military.

Klaus approves this post....

[ghuns]

The US military realized that if China beats us in the AI/Quantum computing race, we are fffffff-ucked.

[YoDoug]

They're creating an express lane between everyone's personal information and our military.

The merging of the State and private sector should already be concerning. This just seems off the charts f-n nuts.

They already have access to all that info. Google/FB/Apple?etc all sell your data to everyone that is willing to pay, including foreign interests.

[neurosis]

I never thought I would see "conservatives" attempt to justify something like this. 

Damn.

[Newbeeee™]

I never thought I would see "conservatives" attempt to justify something like this. 

Damn.

The reality is, nobody is happy with any of it.
But nobody is going to do anything about it.
And "they" know this....

[SuperHoneyBadger]

I never thought I would see "conservatives" attempt to justify something like this. 

Damn.

I agree, and I think it's maybe down to OurGuySyndrome, an affliction that anyone can have when the balance of power shifts.

It's akin to the AI/android companies running headlong toward building unironic Skynet. Everyone on the outside says "whoa buddy, those are cautionary tales, parables about what will go wrong. Might want to pump the brakes. Just because you can, stop to think if you should. Etc, etc, ad nauseam"

And the guy doing it says, "but that won't happen to ME, I've figured it out. We have all the necessary precautions in place." In this case though, the circumvention of privacy, decency and lack of respect for human life is by design. This is AI getting the go ahead to manage the kill chain from the top down.

Will it ensure we beat the BRICS drone army when they default on their USD backed debt? Maybe. But what will we sacrifice in the long term? As was drilled into me around these parts, 3rd and 4th order consequences should always be taken into account when acting today. I don't claim to know the right answer, but deputizing tech execs like this seems wrong on more than one level. Seems to me that sinking to the level of China's gov/corp integration is a step back, and something that we consistently malign when they do it.

[neurosis]

I agree, and I think it's maybe down to OurGuySyndrome, an affliction that anyone can have when the balance of power shifts.

There are a LOT of things that could go wrong with this, and it could start with something as simple as one of these big tech guys not agreeing with something the US Military is asking them to do.