Pentagon Mobilized to Support Tech Startups After Bank Failure
Brown, who previously ran the Defense Department’s outreach to Silicon Valley, said the national-security implications of SVB depositors’ funds vanishing would have gone well beyond the lost money. Many of the young startups that had funds in SVB were working on projects with clear defense and national-security applications.
“You certainly would have seen the national-security implications for autonomy for AI, for cyber space, a lot of the sectors which are so vibrant right now and could be used to better effect by the Defense Department,” he said. “It would be like cutting the [research and development] for all of those different companies. And you can imagine what happens, right? That means you're just living on your current product. And as soon as they run out, nothing's coming.”
The Defense Department is requesting $17.8 billion in 2024 funding for research into emerging technology areas like artificial intelligence, autonomy, cybersecurity, and others. But much of that money is for developing capabilities that will only be available later in the decade, Brown said. The Pentagon has a real gap in fielding innovative technologies quickly, he said.