Amazon, Microsoft execs call for closer alliance between Pentagon and big tech

Executives from Amazon and Microsoft criticised their Silicon Valley peers for allegedly failing to supply the most advanced technology to the military, arguing closer collaboration is needed to sustain US dominance over autocratic foreign governments.

In comments last weekend at the Reagan National Defense Forum, an annual summit attended by top defence officials and their industry counterparts, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft President Brad Smith pledged to support the Pentagon even in the face of internal revolt.

Bezos, in a wide-ranging discussion Saturday morning that included a bizarre aside about his grandfather’s thumb injury, said technology executives should overrule employees who do not want to work with the military. He made no mention of his company’s pending lawsuit against the Defense Department over a massive cloud computing contract recently awarded to Microsoft and did not take questions from reporters. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

“One of the things that’s happening inside of technology companies is you have groups of employees who, for example, think technology companies should not work with the Department of Defense,” Bezos said. “People are entitled to their opinions, but it’s the job of a senior leadership team to say no.”

“Do you want a strong national defence or do not you? I think you do … and we have to support that,” Bezos said.

Smith, also Microsoft’s chief legal officer, seemed to riff off of Bezos’ remarks later that day. In a panel discussion named for the “technological cold war” with China, Smith sat next to uniformed National Security Agency Chief Paul Nakasone and two members of Congress. Smith said Microsoft would provide all of its technology to the US military, and pushed back on the idea that contributing to weapons development is somehow unethical.