Four Tech Execs from Palantir, Meta, OpenAI, and Thinking Machines Sworn in As U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonels

How worried should we be that Congress is completely ignoring this issue?

Strap in because the U.S. Army just pulled off a merging of government and tech powers that would surprise even the wildest sci-fi aficionados. Four tech titans from Palantir, Meta, OpenAI, and Thinking Machines were just sworn in as U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonels—yes, you heard that right, Lieutenant Colonels—without attending boot camp and without having been in a single boots-on-the-ground deployment.

Shyam Sankar (Palantir’s CTO), Andrew Bosworth (Meta’s CTO), Kevin Weil (OpenAI’s CPO), and Bob McGrew (ex-OpenAI Chief Research Officer) are leaving their shrouded Silicon Valley boardrooms for military rank as “part-time advisors,” and the internet is losing its mind. Here’s why . . .

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These tech bros didn’t claw their way up the military ranks. They sidestepped the whole ordeal with a direct commission into Detachment 201, the Army’s shiny new Executive Innovation Corps.

These guys didn’t go to boot camp, passed no fitness test, and just had a “crash course” in uniform etiquette and marksmanship—because nothing screams “battle-ready” like a weekend of target practice, right?

The Army’s reasoning? The U.S., under Trump, is trying to be the leader in AI, with the aim to “supercharge” innovation by embedding tech wizards into the military machine. tThis move aims to make the force “leaner, smarter, and more lethal” by leveraging their AI and cybersecurity expertise.

It’s not a “new” thing though, the military has been trying to compete in the land of technology for years now. The U.S. Navy’s chief technology officer, Justin Fanelli, spent the past several years cutting through red tape and shrinking long procurement cycles that once made working with the military a nightmare for startups in an aim to get tech innovation embedded into the military.

It all sounds noble, and who doesn’t want to outwit hackers and techies in other countries who are trying to take over our country from within, but these O-5 rank holders (that’s Lieutenant Colonel for the uninitiated) now outrank thousands of soldiers who’ve spent years earning their stripes the old-fashioned way: with sweat, grit, and in many cases years of PTSD and spilled blood.

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