[WastingMyTime89]

Weird title. Silicon Valley was literally founded by military spending and as far as I know it never really stopped.

Apparently the crux of the article is that the military wants more private capital to flow in the defense industry and an healthier ecosystems because the few large companies which have become keys to the military complex have become really inefficient.

It’s interesting but a different point entirely.

[est31]

> Apparently the crux of the article is that the military wants more private capital to flow in the defense industry and an healthier ecosystems because the few large companies which have become keys to the military complex have become really inefficient.

There has been such a healthy ecosystem of smaller companies in the defense industry, but the pentagon has forced the companies to consolidate. See: "last supper" of 1993 for example, but even before that there have been decades of mergers.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/merger-mania-should-the-p...

This report has also some nice graphs showing that this has been a very long trend, see Table 1 and figures 2 and 3:

https://media.defense.gov/2022/Feb/15/2002939087/-1/-1/1/STA...

[dredmorbius]

Steve Blank's "Secret History of Silicon Valley" (2008/9) is an HN perennial:

<https://steveblank.com/secret-history/>

Algolia search: <https://hn.algolia.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2Fsec...>

[thebooktocome]

Yeah, I don’t get it. In the process of becoming a substitute for one of the big primes, any given Silicon Valley corp is going to become just like a Raytheon or NGC. The process of govt contracting at scale breeds inefficiency and rent-seeking.

[AlbertCory]

.. and indeed, that's the real reason I never went to a defense company: it's the stifling culture inside it.

[tobylane]

Does the amount of foreign founders and funders make a difference here? I imagine it’s grown.

[kevin_thibedeau]

They let a South African keep his security clearance after breaking federal law so no big deal if there isn't Chinese entanglement.

[stametseater]

Said "South African" is a naturalized American citizen, which should be 'American enough' for anybody.

His business dealings with the communist Chinese are a bit more concerning.

Edit for response:

> why did you put quotes around american enough

Because in my view you're either an American citizen or you're not. I think it's offensive to speak of being American being a matter of degree. Insinuating that Elon Musk is less of an American than anybody else with an American citizenship is simply offensive.

[tobylane]

Musk also has citizenship of Canada and South Africa. It does matter in security clearances, but I don’t know how firm that rule is.

[kevin_thibedeau]

Usually they force dual citizens to renounce their other citizenships. I had a coworker who was sidelined for over a year waiting for the paperwork to go through before he could proceed with the SF86. Presumably VIPs get special treatment on that too.

[gobengo]

why did you put quotes around american enough

[bogantech]

Or maybe the reason he still has clearance is because the federal crimes are totally made up & in your head

[mbrudd]

> Weird title. Silicon Valley was literally founded by military spending and as far as I know it never really stopped.

Came here to say this! Malcolm Harris wrote a book about this history (https://bookshop.org/p/books/palo-alto-a-history-of-californ...), recently discussed on an interesting episode of Tech Won't Save Us (https://techwontsave.us/episode/155_the_untold_history_of_si...).