13 May 2023

Volunteer Force U.S. Tech Companies and Their Contributions in Ukraine

Christine H. Fox

U.S. tech companies have played a critical role in the international effort to support and defend Ukraine against Russia. To better understand and envision how these companies can help U.S. strategic interests, CSET convened a group of industry experts and former government leaders to discuss lessons learned from the ongoing war in Ukraine and what those lessons might mean for the future. The workshop’s discussion and this accompanying report expand on the themes explored in the October 2022 "Foreign Affairs" article "Big Tech Goes to War."Download Full Report

Introduction

Since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, strategists, journalists, and even combatants have noted the ability of U.S. technology companies to influence the course of the crisis there. To explore the relationship between these commercial companies and the U.S. government in light of events in Ukraine, we convened a group of leaders, including from industry and government, to evolve our understanding of what is happening and what that might mean for future conflicts. The group included a roughly even mix of U.S. business and former government leaders, as well as several members of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), and a representative of the UK Ministry of Defense.

We began our exploration of these issues in our article Big Tech Goes to War, published by Foreign Affairs on Oct 19, 2022.* This workshop explored many of the issues we raised in this article and added more. The conversation was held under the Chatham House Rule but participants agreed to having their names listed. This workshop report captures the key issues that were discussed.

* The October 2022 Foreign Affairs article, Big Tech Goes to War, can be accessed here: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/big-tech-goes-war.


No comments: