The Bay Why Silicon Valley Got Cozy With the Military
Feb 16, 2026
Shira Frankel, a New York Times reporter covering technology and national security, explains how Big Tech warmed to military and surveillance contracts. She discusses the shift from 2018 protests to lucrative defense work, why firms now emulate Palantir, and how wars, procurement and executive politics reshaped tech’s stance. The conversation flags money, ethics and the future of AI in warfare.
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From Global Good To National Alignment
- Silicon Valley has shifted from an internationalist, do-good ethos to a closer alignment with U.S. national interests.
- That cultural change made collaborating with the U.S. military more politically and commercially acceptable.
Google Employees Forced A Policy Reversal
- Over 3,000 Google workers signed a letter saying, "we believe Google should not be in the business of war."
- That employee pressure forced executives to cancel Project Maven and change policy.
Palantir Set A Lucrative Example
- Palantir was an early outlier openly courting government contracts and reaped large, faithful revenue streams.
- Other tech firms grew jealous and began seeing government work as a lucrative model to emulate.