Secretary of Defense Rock
A few days ago, Palmer Luckey, the founder of Anduril Industries and a leading voice in the Silicon Valley defense-tech ecosystem, delivered a speech at National Taiwan University in Taipei. Framed as a call to action for Taiwan’s next generation of engineers and technologists, the speech urged students to apply their talents to national defense and help build a high-tech deterrent against the growing threat from China. But beyond its rhetorical appeal to patriotism and innovation, Luckey’s remarks recycled a familiar set of assumptions that have become gospel among defense-focused venture capital firms and companies spawning in Silicon Valley and making their way east to Washington to sell their products. These firms, flush with cash and influence, consistently misinterpret the nature of military power, how wars are actually won, and why military technology evolves the way it does. Luckey’s speech exemplifies the strategic naïveté that emerges when technologists mistake tactical disruption for strategic transformation.
Over the past year, nearly every major American media outlet has published a long-form article touching on the “drone and AI revolution” in warfare. From cable news segments to longform features in major newspapers, the narrative is remarkably consistent: low-cost drones and autonomous systems are transforming the modern battlefield and heralding a new era of war, one that the United States is aloof from.
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