In a striking symbol of Silicon Valley’s transformation, four high-ranking executives from Meta, OpenAI, Palantir, and Thinking Machines Lab donned combat uniforms this June and swore an oath to the US military at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia. As reported by The New York Times’ Sheera Frenkel, these tech leaders were commissioned as lieutenant colonels in a new Army unit, Detachment 201, tasked with advising on emerging combat technologies.

The unit represents more than just symbolic cooperation. It embodies a sweeping cultural and strategic shift: Silicon Valley is no longer "resisting" the military, it’s joining it. Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll praised the move, stating, “We desperately need what they are good at… It’s an understatement how grateful we are that they are taking this risk to come and try to build this out with us.”

As Frenkel reports, these tech executives, Meta’s Andrew Bosworth, OpenAI’s Kevin Weil, Palantir’s Shyam Sankar, and Bob McGrew of Thinking Machines, had already completed basic training and now serve in an official Army reserve capacity.

From anti-war protests to defense integration

Frenkel notes that the Pentagon's growing alignment with Big Tech reflects a “radical departure from the industry’s previous ethos.” Just six years ago, thousands of Google employees walked out in protest of Project Maven, an AI project for analyzing drone footage. The backlash was so strong that Google withdrew from a $10 billion cloud contract known as JEDI and adopted AI principles explicitly barring the development of weapons technologies.

But that era is over. As Sheera Frenkel documents, OpenAI, Meta, and even Google have since reversed course, dropping restrictions and actively engaging with US military and intelligence agencies.

"There’s a much stronger patriotic underpinning than I think people give Silicon Valley credit for," said Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, one of the new Army inductees. He now performs annual military duties alongside his corporate responsibilities.

The shift has been accelerated by what the US perceives as geopolitical tensions with China, the rise of AI-powered weapons in wars from Ukraine to Gaza, and a renewed political emphasis on defense innovation under President Donald Trump. In April, Trump issued an executive order to overhaul Pentagon tech acquisition, and his 2026 defense budget allocates a record $1 trillion, including heavy investment in autonomous systems and AI.

New era of 'defense capitalism'

According to Frenkel’s reporting, the private sector is wasting no time. Andreessen Horowitz launched a $500 million defense tech fund in 2023. Y Combinator backed its first military startup in 2024. And McKinsey reports that defense venture investment surged 33% last year, reaching $31 billion.

“Protecting democracies is important,” said Raj Shah of Shield Capital. “You have bad authoritarians out there who don’t believe in borders.”

Yet ethical concerns persist. Frenkel interviewed engineers at Google and Meta who warned that “the pace of military integration is outstripping ethical review.” Margaret O’Mara, a tech historian at the University of Washington, added, “These companies are hyper-competitive… and in their drive to get into defense, there isn’t a lot of pausing to think.”

From DARPA to drones: A return to roots

Frenkel contextualizes the defense shift as a return to the Valley’s Cold War origins. In the 1950s, Pentagon agencies like DARPA funded foundational research in what became Silicon Valley. Google’s early development, she reminds readers, was supported by federal grants, including from DARPA.

But by the 2000s, the tech world had turned toward consumer products and liberal values. The 2018 employee revolt at Google marked a peak in anti-military sentiment. “Google should not be in the business of war,” the protestors wrote.

Palantir, however, took a different path. Frenkel recounts how CEO Alex Karp sued the Army in 2016 to force it to consider Palantir software. The company won and has since built a vast portfolio of military contracts. As of May 2025, Palantir’s market value had surpassed $375 billion, eclipsing giants like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

In a letter to shareholders, Karp declared: “Some within the Valley have now turned a corner and begun following our lead.”

Tech’s march into war

Frenkel highlights how other major tech players have followed suit. In 2024, OpenAI removed its longstanding ban on weapons development and announced a joint anti-drone project with Anduril, a rapidly growing defense startup. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly told General Paul Nakasone, now a board member, “We have to, and are proud to, and really want to engage in national security areas.”

Meta changed its policies in 2024, partnering with Anduril to create VR combat training programs. Bosworth later said that “American national security benefits enormously from American industry bringing these technologies to life.”

Google, too, reversed its AI-weapons ban in February 2025, arguing that democracies must lead in AI innovation “before authoritarian regimes do.”

Frenkel underscores Anduril’s explosive growth. Founded by Palmer Luckey (creator of Oculus VR), the company secured a $642 million Marine Corps contract and raised $2.5 billion in June, reaching a valuation of $30.5 billion.

At an Andreessen Horowitz summit in March, the firm’s “American Dynamism” program spotlighted defense tech as essential to national survival. “Technological superiority is a requirement for a strong democracy,” declared General Partner David Ulevitch. Vice President JD Vance echoed, “We shouldn’t be fearful of productive new technologies. We should seek to dominate them.”

From battlefield to boardroom, and back

The formation of Detachment 201 represents a new hybrid: Silicon Valley leaders embedded within the US military. Sankar, Palantir’s CTO, helped form the unit and personally recruited Bosworth, Weil, and McGrew.

Billy Thalheimer, CEO of the defense startup Regent, told Frenkel that when he attended Y Combinator in 2021, “defense was stigmatized… crypto was king.” Now, Regent has raised over $100 million and secured Marine Corps contracts for its electric seagliders.

In Hayward, California, drone-maker Skydio scaled up production and now closes military deals in weeks. Its latest: a $74 million State Department contract for counternarcotics drones.

As Sheera Frenkel writes, “The wall between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon has crumbled.” With the tech industry now openly fueling US military power with AI-driven weapons, surveillance tools, and battlefield training systems, it has become clear that their long-claimed anti-war ideals have been false.

Some call it a "patriotic duty". Others call it profit. Either way, the tech world’s shift is undeniable, and it may be just the beginning.