ChinaTalk

The Pentagon’s Innovation Insurgents


Listen Later

Chris Kirchhoff was a founding member of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and previously worked in the Obama NSC. He recently published a book called Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War. He wrote:

“To the extent present military and civilian leadership is articulating its strategy, it is one built, for the most part, on a continuation of previous programmatic and budgetary trendlines. If there is a strategy for losing a future war in China, this is it.”

Unit X traces the evolution of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a group of Pentagon insurgents who are fighting to change how the DoD relates to emerging technologies.

We discuss:

  • The origin story of DIU and its early struggles to break Pentagon bureaucracy;
  • How DIU leveraged “waiver authority” to circumvent red tape under Defense Secretary Ash Carter;
  • Why the defense industrial base is ill-equipped to keep pace with technological change;
  • The case for shifting more DoD spending to non-traditional tech companies;
  • Lessons from commercial spaceflight for future AI governance, including potential issues with a “Manhattan project for AI.”

  • Outtro music: 告五人 Accusefive - 愛人錯過 Somewhere in Time (Youtube Link)

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    ChinaTalkBy Jordan Schneider

    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5

    4.5

    277 ratings


    More shows like ChinaTalk

    View all
    Odd Lots by Bloomberg

    Odd Lots

    1,943 Listeners

    Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

    Conversations with Tyler

    2,451 Listeners

    Foreign Policy Live by Foreign Policy

    Foreign Policy Live

    609 Listeners

    Sinica Podcast by Kaiser Kuo

    Sinica Podcast

    608 Listeners

    ChinaPower by CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies

    ChinaPower

    212 Listeners

    The President’s Inbox by Council on Foreign Relations

    The President’s Inbox

    717 Listeners

    The Trade Guys by CSIS  |  Center for Strategic and International Studies

    The Trade Guys

    147 Listeners

    Net Assessment by War on the Rocks

    Net Assessment

    423 Listeners

    ManifoldOne by Steve Hsu

    ManifoldOne

    93 Listeners

    Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

    Dwarkesh Podcast

    503 Listeners

    Pekingology by Center for Strategic and International Studies

    Pekingology

    143 Listeners

    Ones and Tooze by Foreign  Policy

    Ones and Tooze

    345 Listeners

    The Foreign Affairs Interview by Foreign Affairs Magazine

    The Foreign Affairs Interview

    446 Listeners

    "Econ 102" with Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg by Turpentine

    "Econ 102" with Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg

    152 Listeners

    The Trivium China Podcast by Trivium China

    The Trivium China Podcast

    14 Listeners