Tag: military industrial complex

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s new investment fund deepens his ties to national security interests

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt is an example of how you can shape public policy without ever running for office.

A few months ago, the revelation of Schmidt’s deep involvement with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy raised ethics concerns as some questioned if it was appropriate for a tech billionaire to fund a government office that advises the president on tech policy.

Now, Schmidt, who has long been a go-to liaison between the tech industry and the military, is expanding his influence over US national security by helping fund a new investment fund called America’s Frontier Fund (AFF), according to a report by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), the research arm of the nonprofit ethics watchdog Campaign for Accountability.

America’s Frontier Fund isn’t your ordinary venture capital fund. In a leaked announcement draft obtained by TTP, AFF described itself as the first “public-private, deep-tech fund” in the US, meaning it would receive government funding alongside private money. After Recode followed up, the fund said the draft “was not approved and was never meant to be released. We do not describe ourselves that way. We only describe ourselves as a ‘non-profit deep tech fund.’”

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HIV Status Will No Longer Automatically Disqualify Troops from Deployment, Retention

Most HIV-positive troops will no longer face involuntary separation or be barred from deploying as a result of their condition under an update to the Pentagon’s policy on HIV status.

According to a memo released by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday, commanders no longer will be allowed to involuntarily separate troops with asymptomatic HIV. They also may not restrict them from deploying or bar any currently serving enlisted personnel, cadets or midshipmen with HIV from seeking a commission as an officer.

HIV, however, will continue to be a disqualifying condition for enlistment or commissioning for those not currently serving, meaning HIV-positive persons interested in joining the U.S. military still may not, regardless of whether their viral load is deemed low enough to not be transmissible.

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US To Sell Ukraine Advanced Drones Armed With Hellfire Missiles In Coming Days

Despite a mere days ago President Biden pledging in a New York Times op-ed that under his watch the United States would ensure it avoids supplying the Ukrainians with weapons which could penetrate deep inside Russian territory, given the potential for wider war with Russia, the White House is now said to be mulling the transfer of multiple MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones which can be armed with Hellfire missiles.

Reuters, citing unnamed sources, reports the Biden administration has notified Congress of the potential sale within “the coming days”. If it goes through, the sale would mark the largest and most sophisticated drones in Ukraine’s arsenal. It would also inch the US a bit closer toward President Zelensky’s prior request for the US and NATO to “close the skies” – or impose a No Fly Zone (NFZ) – despite Biden officials earlier admitting this would trigger automatic direct conflict with Russian.

The Pentagon is already supplying hundreds of AeroVironment’s Switchblade drones, which is a small, low-cost loitering munition or “suicide” drone. Ukraine has also already long deployed the Turkish-made Bayraktar, however, the General Atomics-made Gray Eagle is much faster and capable of carrying heavier munitions.

According to a brief comparative analsysis in Forbes,

The Gray Eagle carries up to four roughly 100-pound Hellfire missiles, whereas the Bayraktar can carry as many as four 49-pound laser-guided “smart micro” bombs.

Further, “The long-range model of the Gray Eagle drone is 28 feet long and can fly for over 41 hours with a top speed of about 173 miles per hour, while the Bayraktar is 21 feet long and can fly for 27 hours at up to 138 miles per hour.”

The potential transfer comes just as Biden authorized $700 million more in military aid to Ukraine. Reuters says the transfer is to include at least four Gray Eagle drones.

The Drive notes that with this type of advanced weapons system sale, there could be a few more hurdles along the way: “Typically a foreign military sale, even one financed by the U.S., as Reuters reports, has to be pre-approved by the State Department,” the report says.

And once again the Pentagon could be ordered by the administration to deplete its own crucial stockpile and arsenal in order to further arm the Ukrainians.

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Slippery Slope: New U.S. Advanced Weapons for Ukraine

Peace advocates are warning that the Biden administration’s newly unveiled decision to arm Ukraine with advanced missile systems further heightens the risk of a direct military conflict between the U.S. and Russia, which accused the White House of “adding fuel to the fire deliberately” as Moscow’s deadly invasion of its neighbor rages on.

“The slippery slope leading to a direct U.S. confrontation with Russia just got a lot steeper,” Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the progressive anti-war group CodePink, wrote in response to the Biden administration’s move, which was followed by news that Russian forces are holding nuclear drills northeast of Moscow on Wednesday. “The U.S. and U.K. governments show no efforts or desire to achieve peaceful settlement of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.”

The U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, also known as HIMARS, will give Ukraine the capability to strike Russian targets roughly 50 miles away with powerful, satellite-guided missiles. The rocket system, the most advanced weaponry the U.S. has sent to Ukraine to date, is manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest military contractor.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Pentagon has spent around $5.4 billion to buy more than 42,000 HIMARS rockets since 1998.

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ELON MUSK IS NOT A RENEGADE OUTSIDER – HE’S A MASSIVE PENTAGON CONTRACTOR

Elon Musk’s proposed takeover of Twitter has ruffled many feathers among professional commentators. “Musk is the wrong leader for Twitter’s vital mission,” read one Bloomberg headline. The network also insisted, “Nothing in the Tesla CEO’s track record suggests he will be a careful steward of an important media property.” “Elon Musk is the last person who should take over Twitter,” wrote Max Boot in The Washington Post, explaining that “[h]e seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.” The irony of outlets owned by Michael Bloomberg and Jeff Bezos warning of the dangers of permitting a billionaire oligarch to control our media was barely commented upon.

Added to this, a host of celebrities publicly left the social media platform in protest against the proposed $44 billion purchase. This only seemed to confirm to many free speech-minded individuals that the South African billionaire was a renegade outsider on a mission to save the internet from authoritarian elite control (despite the fact that he is borrowing money from the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia in order to do so).

Musk has deliberately cultivated this image of himself: a real life Tony Stark figure who thinks for himself and is not part of the established order. But behind this carefully constructed façade, Musk is intimately connected to the U.S. national security state, serving as one of its most important business partners. Elon, in short, is no threat to the powerful, entrenched elite: he is one of them.

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THE BROOKLYN HOLOGRAM STUDIO RECEIVING MILLIONS FROM THE CIA

LAST SUMMER, Looking Glass Factory, a company based in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, revealed its latest consumer device: a slim, holographic picture frame that turns photos taken on iPhones into 3D displays. Linus Sebastian, an affable YouTube personality behind the immensely popular technology channel Linus Tech Tips, gave his viewers a preview of the technology.

Sebastian praised the Looking Glass Portrait as “freaking awesome,” especially considering the progress the company had made since Sebastian had toured their office two years earlier, after $2.5 million in money from a Kickstarter campaign. “For the price, for the amount of development work, and how niche this thing is, it honestly looks like a pretty compelling value for the right customer,” marveled Sebastian. “Which raises the questions, who is that exactly?”

Sebastian suggested the product would be a perfect fit for those who wanted to “flex” with a novelty piece of artwork or a designer seeking to preview their own work.

But Looking Glass Factory’s other customers went unmentioned in any of the splashy coverage of the new device: the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense. The military was interested in holographic technology, but the price was a potential obstacle. “The high cost of assembling holographic display devices are restraining market growth,” noted International Defense Security & Technology, a trade publication, last year. One of the growing players in the market, IDST added, is Looking Glass Factory.

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Biden admin adds $100 million in arms for Ukraine on top of $40 billion aid package

The Biden administration has announced $100 million in arms funding to Ukraine on top of the newly approved $40 billion aid package.

On Thursday, the Senate approved $40 billion in aid for Ukraine as the nation continues to fight back against Russia’s invasion.

Just hours later, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the United States would be sending an additional $100 million in arms.

In a statement, Blinken explained that Ukrainian forces have “remained firmly in the fight” against Russia, but are in need of assistance, namely arms and other equipment.

“Pursuant to a delegation from the President,” Blinken said, “I am authorizing our tenth drawdown of additional arms and equipment for Ukraine’s defense from US Department of Defense inventories, valued at up to $100 million.”

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