Unit X by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff

UNIT X by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff explores “How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War.” In the past, it was the Pentagon which often funded private experimentation with technologies like nuclear power, lasers, and even early versions of the internet. But in the early twenty-first century, military technology was far behind available options (think GPS, drone application, facial recognition, etc.).  Acknowledgement of this situation led to the establishment of Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, DIUx, formed in 2015 and headquartered in Mountain View, California. Shah and Kirchhoff were two of the founders and hence provide an inside look at Unit X’s evolution. They chronicle the initial resistance from DoD as officials sought to protect relationships with traditional suppliers and appropriations from Congress. And then there was resistance within Silicon Valley, as when three thousand Google employees signed a letter arguing that the company “should not be in the business of war.” Readers will be fascinated by stories involving companies like Palantir, Anduril, Shield AI, Joby Aviation and venture capitalists as well as the authors’ insightful analysis of the culture clash between the military, clearly risk-adverse and bureaucratic, and tech innovators. The authors poignantly conclude: “the ultimate goal is not to win wars but to deter them. … Advocates of innovation must keep pressing despite the seemingly Sisyphean task of reform. Leadership must back them to the hilt.” An extensive Bibliography (about 15% of the book) and a helpful Index are included. Recent analyses of military tech “disruptors” and future trends are available online from sources such as RAND, McKinsey and Brookings.  UNIT X was longlisted for the Financial Times Best Book of the Year and reviewed further in publications like The Wall Street Journal and briefly in Foreign Affairs.