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The High Tech Revolving Door


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Many people think of social media companies as the embodiment of progressive corporate ideals in actions. But the reality is, many social media companies are active partners with national security organizations in the name of homeland security as well.

Government intelligence and law enforcement agencies can and do subpoena information from Americans’ internet service providers, but also from social media companies and other private-sector companies that collect personal information about you.

The revolving door pattern between government service and technology companies is as obvious as it is in the defense industry.

Take the Defense Innovation Board, begun in 2016 by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Its mission is to “provide the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and other senior leaders across the department with independent advice and recommendations on innovative means to address future challenges…and innovative approaches that DoD should adopt to ensure U.S. technological and military dominance.” The Board is comprised of leaders from across the national security innovation base to provide diverse insight on DoD’s biggest challenges.

Its first executive director was Josh Marcuse, who was previously a Senior Advisor for Policy Innovation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. His left the DoD in March 2020. Two months later, Google announced that Marcuse would join their organization as head of strategy and innovation for the global public sector. Even more interesting is the fact that that same month, the Defense Innovation Unit, an organization within the DoD focused on scaling commercial technology across the department, revealed they had chosen Google Cloud to build a secure cloud management system.

Its membership has included Google Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Instagram Chief Operating Officer Marne Levine, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Code for America’s founder Jennifer Pahlka, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Google Capital VP Milo Medin, United Technologies’ Mike McQuade, Applied Inventions’ Danny Hillis, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute Walter Isaacson, Harvard professor (and Samantha Power spouse) Cass Sunstein, and University of Texas Chancellor Bill McRaven. These people have had deep influence over DoD’s latest developing strategy, and their recommendations have “been used to inform DoD leadership strategy and action, as well as congressional legislation.”

Within two years after Barack Obama left office, Facebook employed dozens of people from his administration. The Biden administration brought four technology company executives into its transition team, including both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

In a recent Drill Down episode, Peter Schweizer and Eric Eggers discuss the questionable relationship between Facebook and the national security establishment. As Eric notes, when it is asked to share information on users by the government, “Facebook shares that information 74% of the time.” It turns out, when the government asks for information, Mark Zuckerberg & Co. are happy to oblige. Not only that, but “since 2010, the government’s number of requests for user information from Google have gone up more than 500%.

Given the mixing between the government and the big tech sector of the economy, perhaps this is not so surprising.

As Eric concludes, “It’s a legacy of 9/11 and the Patriot Act.”