
Bezos says 'country in trouble' if big tech turns its back on the Pentagon - kjhughes
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/07/bezos-says-country-in-trouble-if-big-tech-turns-its-back-on-the-pentagon.html
======
derangedHorse
It's hard to believe his want for big tech to support the Pentagon is genuine
when he's actively fighting to steal a Pentagon business deal away from
Microsoft. If he really cares about national defense he can put his money
where his mouth is and just undercut Microsoft's costs by making up the
difference with a donation of his own.

~~~
Bostonian
Amazon is complaining that they were denied a contract for political reasons,
because Trump dislikes the Washington Post, owned by Bezos. This does sound
like something Trump and his appointees might do.

~~~
6cd6beb
Broken clock.

------
Bostonian
He has a point. If Chinese computer scientists work with the Chinese military
and Americans do not, the U.S. military will be disadvantaged. It should be
noted that "smart" U.S. weapons may kill fewer civilians than the weapons they
replaced, because they are better targeted.

~~~
x86_64Ubuntu
The problem with smart weapons is that we only seem to use them against goat
herders. Hardly a pressing need for a big tech and Pentagon meetup.

------
someonehere
Not just the Pentagon though. Other government agencies that get the shaft
from big tech run the risk of outsourcing their needs to other countries. I
don’t understand how contracts for other government agencies work or what
rules/limits they have. But if a Palantir type company decides to back out of
helping DHS for moral reasons, would it be feasible for DHS to turn to a
Palantir based out of Eastern Europe or India if such a company existed? I
think that’s a bigger risk to outsource tech to foreign nations to manage our
nations government agencies.

~~~
AndrewKemendo
_would it be feasible for DHS to turn to a Palantir based out of Eastern
Europe or India if such a company existed?_

The answer is almost always no.

The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation, along with executive orders and
other lower level orders, places explicit limitations on the source of
technologies that will be used in Defense.

The mundane result of modern tech companies not working with the DoD, or other
federal agencies, is simply that the average serviceman or woman will continue
to have to use terrible software and generally default to the "Microsoft
Weapons System" (Powerpoint, Excel, Word, Sharepoint). You wouldn't believe
some of the amazing Macros built by innovative Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and
Marines.

There are efforts to remedy this by building modern software natively by
service members, but we're still in early days.

------
6cd6beb
Businesses have gotten larger and more powerful than the governments that are
supposed to regulate them. Moreover, infested the relevant regulatory
agencies.

