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you will find ways to improve performance in the future...

ike

My fellow Americans: 

Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor. 

This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen. 

Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all. 

Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation. 

My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years. 

In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together. 

II. 

We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment. 

III. 

Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad. 

Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger is poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle -- with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment. 

Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel. 

But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration. 

The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only. 

IV. 

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. 

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea. 

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. 

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. 

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. 

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. 

Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. 

In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government. 

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. 

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present 

and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite. 

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society. 

V. 

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow. 

VI. 

Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. 

Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield. 

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war -- as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years -- I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight. 

Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road. 

VII. 

So -- in this my last good night to you as your President -- I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find some things worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future. 

You and I -- my fellow citizens -- need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation's great goals. 

To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration: 

Source:
Public Papers of the Presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960, p. 1035- 1040 


https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/eisenhower001.asp


Gus Leonisky is a rabid atheist who thinks that "god is a sadist idiot paving hell with good intentions". God is a wicked invention of desperate sociopathic men to rule others. The sentiments expressed by Ike here were noble, nonetheless. The military machine, the Pentagon, has since seen itself as the policeman of the human species. It seems "It can't even take care of itself"... Actually, the events at the Capitol smell of a "thick edge" going to the keeper. By this I mean that the naive protesters were channelled into becoming part of a systemic foul to be "dealt with". Remember:


JOE BIDEN WROTE THE PATRIOT ACT:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4876107/user-clip-joe-biden-wrote-patriot-act


See also:
the ballade of a departing president...

the consequence of a new serfdom...

Just as the rise of Hitler can't be understood without reference to the Versailles, or the Bolshevik revolution as a consequence of near serfdom under an absolute monarchy, equally the current US decline can't be explained by politics alone. If Soviet Russia evokes memories of Gulags and National Socialism that of concentration camps; US laissez-faire capitalism offers a spectacle of a 21st century idiocracy producing an intellectual pessimism and a reality based dystopia.

In a weary world of endless US military interventions, sanctions, trade tariffs and chaos, let's pause and take stock of the shining house on the hill, the beacon of light; that torch which welcomes the "wretched refuse of your teeming shore." Well, that's how the narrative goes. However, these days the 'wretched refuse' are more likely to arrive from neighboring Mexico, or vengeful and angry Muslims from devastated lands that refused the petrodollar.

"It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society" - Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher.


Located on the fringes of western civilization and isolated from European absolute monarchies the founding fathers ensured their own wealth and estates remained protected from government and the alternative revolutionary ideas of that era.

Founding principles

No doubt principled men, business is business and the antiquated Electoral College voting system echo's those founding principles which ensures the elite bypass both democracy and its citizenry. President Lincoln already foresaw the future nearly two centuries earlier when he noted, "At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? If it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad ..." The 'danger' foreseen is the systemic failure of a society founded on greed in which everyone and everything becomes a market commodity. In other words, when the have not's in turn became a majority. Moreover, that narcissistic and greedy politicians, bankers and corporations replaced "We the People" as status symbols of success and viewed poverty as individual failure was inevitable. When the industrial era of opportunities faded and the protection racket petrodollar declined it reverted back to the dog-eat-dog origins of its founding.

Indeed, centuries later the Wild West again plays out on American streets (and on other streets in the world), in which killing each other now resembles a national pastime in a country that has only been at peace for two decades since its founding. In 'American Psychosis', the renowned US journalist Chris Hedges gives a compelling and recommended analysis of US decline based on historical comparisons.


"We're an empire now; we create our own reality." Karl Rove, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, 2004.

As the US declined, its population abandoned reality and fled into the same Lewis Carroll rabbit hole as Alice in Wonderland, where it encountered similar characters and credulity. The outside world became, "Curiouser and curiouser" as the population asked their political deities, "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here", in a country where Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian combined have more followers on twitter than the total votes cast in the 2016 presidential elections!

"Everywhere you go, everything you touch, chaos is left behind" - Russian envoy Vasily Nebenzya to US EU envoy Nikki Haley, UNSC, 2018.

By dismissing European 20th century events as something that happened 'over there', the US failed to learn the lessons they offered in the 21st. Nevertheless, in an isolated low-information population indoctrinated with panic and fear of the outside world and of each other, the show must go on. That unlimited greed produces both cronyism and corporate fascism is something only recently discovered. Or that trying to control the world through violence is what the US itself put a similar rogue nation on trial for at Nuremburg. Can the ramparts of the Homeland Defense Act keep the world at bay and can demagogue cult personalities save the empire? Is Obama a Messiah or is President Trump sent from God and is this the updated US equivalent of the Nuremberg rallies? (Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 'USA Freedom Kids' later filed a lawsuit against President Trump for non-payment and breach of contract.) 


"We're Going to Take out 7 Countries in 5 Years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan & Iran ..." Gen. Wesley Clarke (Ret), 2007.

Those countries such as Russia, China and Iran who oppose and resist the might of the empire by refusing to pay the US capitalist tribute of open borders remain surrounded by missile bases in a replica of an updated ancient siege, in which leaders become intentionally demonized and their economies sanctioned, or undermined by trade wars. Meanwhile, those weaker such as Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan are put to the sword. Haven't the Russians a right to be paranoid as once again western armies gather on their borders? 

Sh**hole countries

The ancient Roman Empire gladiator games now involve arming weaker nations, referred with disdain as "Sh**hole countries", as modern day narcissists weaned on computer games and reality TV shows cheer on the blood sports from the comfort of their armchairs. In today's arena Iraq fights NATO and the US military assist the Saudis bomb Yemen into pieces as the mob roars HOO-RAR and venture capitalists move in to deliver the coup de grace to the vanquished.

"Thank God, this situation of a unipolar world, of a monopoly, is coming to an end. It's practically already over." President Putin, 2018.

In conclusion, what an indoctrinated US population still fail to grasp is that the experiment to present an economic system as an ideology wasn't designed to outlast its industrial revolution. Currently, Mr. Trump is proof that wealth isn't necessarily a result of intelligence and Mr. Obama that spreading wealth around didn't include his own. The have not's crowd funding medical care and those in tent cities are not cheering for liberty and freedom and increasingly, the world is refusing to fund its MAGA fantasies. The US is the rogue nation state of the early 21st century and the real threat to world peace. Thankfully, the 'Black Site' torture centers, 'Arab Springs', invasions and coups are coming to an end. The sooner the present mess collapses and the US joins the rest of the world respecting core interests in compromise and power-sharing, the safer the world will be.

 


John V Asia Teacher is a British semi-retired English and Social Science teacher with a specific interest in education and political science.


Читайте больше на https://english.pravda.ru/opinion/145541-understanding_usa_decline/

this would piss off the warmongers...

US President Donald Trump's last day in office is January 19, with President-elect Joe Biden set to officially be inaugurated as 46th president of the United States on January 20. Kamala Harris on Wednesday will also become the first female vice president in American history.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered his farewell speech to the American public, as Democrat Joe Biden prepares to take office.

In his farewell address, Trump highlighted the US-brokered Middle East peace deals and the rallying of nations to confront China as examples of his administration's success.

"We revitalized our alliances and rallied the nations of the world to stand up to China like never before," Trump declared.

"As a result of our bold diplomacy and principled realism, we achieved a series of historic peace deals in the Middle East. It is the dawn of a new Middle East and we are bringing our soldiers home ... I am especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars," Trump added.

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/us/202101191081817995-trumps-farewell-address-es...

 

Trump has still done his share of annoyance, but previous tenants of the White House were even moe eager... On "no new war" is a record that hopefully Joe Biden will match. Please note, Joe: piddly little new wars that are "undeclared" still count as war. 

 

I believe that Joe Biden's team will unpick all of Trump's "work"...

 

Read from top.

amazing amazon grace...

 

By Eric Felten, RealClearInvestigations 

February 23, 2021

 

In June 2019, Susan Gordon stood on a stage at the Washington Convention Center. Behind her loomed three giant letters, “AWS,” the abbreviation for Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing division of the giant Internet retailer. After three decades at the Central Intelligence Agency, Gordon had risen to one of the top jobs in the cloak-and-dagger world: principal deputy director of national intelligence. From that perch she publicly extolled the virtues of Amazon Web Services and the cloud services the tech giant provides the CIA.


She told the crowd that the intelligence community’s 2013 decision to sign a multi-year, $600 million contract with AWS for cloud computing “will stand as one of those that caused the greatest leap forward. … The investment we made so many years ago in order to be able to try and harness the power of the cloud with a partner who wanted to learn and grow with us has left us not only ready for today but positioned for tomorrow.”

The agreement was also a “real game-changer,” said André Pienaar, founder and CEO of a tech firm called C5 Capital, whose business includes reselling AWS services. “When the CIA said they were going adopt the AWS cloud platform,” Pienaar said at another AWS event. “People said if the U.S. intelligence community has the confidence to feel secure on the AWS cloud, why can’t we?”

Gordon left government in August 2019, two months after her  AWS summit talk. In November 2019  she became senior adviser to a consultancy with close Amazon connections and in April joined the board of a defense contractor with extensive AWS business.

Gordon is one of scores of former government officials who have landed lucrative work in Big Tech.

The synergy between Washington and Silicon Valley can be seen as the latest manifestation of the Beltway’s revolving door. But the size and scope of Big Tech – and the increasing dependence of government on its products and talent – suggest something more: the rise of a Digital-Intelligence Complex. Like the Military-Industrial Complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against in 1961, it represents a symbiotic relationship in which the lines between one and the other are blurred.

Gordon’s history illustrates this development. Her endorsement of Amazon was important to the company: AWS touted the success of the CIA deal as a prime reason it believed the Pentagon should award the company a 10-year, $10 billion contract for cloud computing for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI. That bid has been mired in litigation as competing tech companies have accused the government of insider dealing, political interference, and other improprieties in considering and awarding the contract.

The web services side of Amazon is believed to be the most profitable part of the mammoth company. Illustrating the pride of place AWS enjoys within Amazon, Jeff Bezos recently announced he is stepping aside from his role as CEO, making room for Andy Jassy, who has been in charge of the AWS subsidiary. It’s also a prime reason Amazon chose the D.C. suburbs for the company’s new HQ2: “The D.C. tech sector is one of the fastest growing in the world,” Teresa Carlson, AWS vice president for Worldwide Public Sector and Industries, told Washington Life magazine last year. That growth is “largely driven by big U.S. government projects,” she added.

As Amazon has built that government business, AWS has had no bigger cheerleader than Gordon, who has made repeated presentations praising Amazon. In 2018, she  appeared at a government/industry confab called “FedTalks.” She shared the stage with AWS Vice President for Engineering Bill Vass, who interviewed her about the work they had done together.

“Can you talk a little bit about the partnership that you’ve had with the cloud provider in this case?” Vass asked, and then added, “It’s been very tight.”

“Throughout my career, which is long, all the great advances we’ve made have been in partnership with industry,” Gordon replied. “We’ve had a partner who is as committed to our needs as we were.”

Vass said that the work with government had made AWS more attractive to private sector companies buying cloud services: “I’ve found it very satisfying to also take input from the intelligence agencies and put that into our commercial products. So, our commercial products--”

“We’re demanding,” Gordon interjected with a laugh.

“Yes, you are demanding, and that’s a good thing because it causes us to raise the bar continuously and I think that has enabled us to put those features into our commercial products,” Vass said. “And a lot of the security requirements that you’ve had just exist on our commercial products that our commercial customers can now leverage.”

“Right,” said Gordon.

“Right,” agreed Vass. “So, they sort of had that same level of security that you have, which is pretty exciting for all of our customers. 

“Yeah,” Gordon enthused, “so, if you believe in the engine of a great society, you’ve just described it.” 

'I Cannot Wait to See What We Do'

Gordon also appeared in a “customer spotlight” on Oct. 7, 2015, at a gathering called the AWS re:Invent conference, where she provided Amazon with a testimonial: “With the help of partners like AWS, I cannot wait to see what we do.”

A former top federal ethics official says that if he had been asked to okay Gordon’s participation in AWS events, he would have required that she explicitly tell the audience she was not endorsing Amazon. The former official told RCI that executive branch employees have to be careful not to run afoul of regulations that prohibit “the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise.”

RealClearInvestigations attempted to contact Gordon multiple times for comment; she did not reply. RCI also asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence whether Gordon’s speech had been approved by government lawyers. "ODNI has a process in place to ensure that all engagements … are appropriately reviewed and vetted, including by ODNI ethics officials," an ODNI spokesperson said. ODNI did not make available any materials documenting such review or vetting.

For years, AWS has been making the same argument for its cloud services that Gordon repeatedly offered: that the intelligence community’s choice of the product showed the way forward for adoption by the public and private sector alike. But Gordon was hardly the only person connected to government with strong ties to Amazon.

Sally Donnelly is a former Time magazine reporter who left journalism and who would become director of the Washington office of U.S. Central Command. She left the Department of Defense in 2012 and formed a consulting practice called SBD Advisors. One of her first clients was C5 Capital, the tech firm founded and run by André Pienaar. Soon, SBD added Amazon Web Services to its roster of customers. Donnelly’s SBD advised AWS on how to sell its services to the Pentagon. 

Donnelly helped guide Secretary of Defense nominee James Mattis through his Senate confirmation hearing in 2017, and was offered a position as senior adviser to Mattis. To accept, she had to sell her business. Also joining Mattis, as his deputy chief of staff, was Tony DeMartino, who had worked on the Amazon account at Donnelly’s consultancy.

Donnelly found a ready buyer for her consultancy in Pienaar’s C5 Capital, which already owned 20% of SBD. Donnelly was paid $1.56 million for her remaining 80% stake. Donnelly received the payments in $390,000 chunks, the majority during  her time at the Pentagon.

While Donnelly and DeMartino were working for Defense Secretary Mattis, the Pentagon was considering and comparing the companies competing for all or part of the $10 billion JEDI contract. Among the competitors was AWS. Two of the other companies vying for JEDI business, Oracle and IBM, each complained to the Government Accountability Office that they had been cut out of a fair chance at the contract. That would lead to an investigation by the DoD’s inspector general, the details of which were published last April. “The complaints we received alleged, among other issues, that Secretary Mattis and Ms. Donnelly provided preferential treatment to Amazon,” the IG said.

One of the events Amazon’s cloud computing competitors complained about was a March 31, 2017, private dinner Mattis attended in London. Hosted by retired British general Graeme Lamb at 5 Hertford Street (a private club regularly described as “secretive”), the dinner had fewer than a dozen guests. Among them were Donnelly, Amazon Web Services V.P. Carlson, and C5 Capital’s Pienaar.

Interviewed by the inspector general about the dinner, Mattis described Pienaar as a “friend.” As for Carlson, he said he had never met her before the London gathering and was “not certain why Teresa Carlson was included,” but offered that “Sally [Donnelly] knew Teresa.”  Donnelly told the IG that she had no “insight” into why Carlson was at the dinner.

But the notion that Carlson was an unknown mystery guest is not supported by sworn testimony given to the DoD Inspector General, transcripts of which have been acquired by RealClearInvestigations. Six weeks before the London dinner, DeMartino had emailed Carlson, writing, “We obviously would like all our friends around us going forward.” Asked by the Inspector General what he had meant, DeMartino explained the Secretary had “a list of the people to fill jobs in the Department of Defense.” The White House had its own list, and “there was a negotiation” going on. “So,” DeMartino answered the I.G., “that note to Teresa was that she was on Secretary Mattis’ list for a potential job." RCI reached out to Mattis, asking why Carlson was on his list for a “senior position” at the DoD if he did not know her and had never met her. Mattis did not respond. 

The dinner’s host, Lamb, is a partner at C5 Capital. The dinner opened the door to Amazon with Mattis. A few weeks later, someone from Amazon called Mattis’ staff and told them that at the dinner in London, the secretary of defense had “expressed interest in meeting with [Jeff] Bezos.” 

There was a question among the military bureaucrats whether Mattis should meet with Amazon’s founder. So Donnelly prepared an internal memo  listing reasons for going ahead with the proposed get-together. Among them: “Bezos owns the Washington Post.” Donnelly touted his accomplishments: “Amazon is one of the most successful start-ups in the history of the US economy,” she wrote. “Amazon has revolutionized delivery and consumer service.” And then there was the product: “The Amazon cloud is the foundation of all Amazon’s businesses and allows unprecedented speed.” She also made the argument top intelligence official Sue Gordon repeated at Amazon sales conventions -- that the CIA uses Amazon’s cloud. 

Mattis met with various tech executives, including Bezos, on a West Coast trip. But he also met privately again with Bezos, over dinner in Washington the evening of Jan. 17, 2018. The only others at the dinner were Carlson and Donnelly.

The inspector general concluded in April 2020 that, even with their connections to Amazon, neither Donnelly nor DeMartino had acted unethically. The IG seemed more persuaded that illegitimate influence, if there had been any, had come from a Bezos-hating President Trump, who reportedly told Mattis to “screw Amazon.”

By the time the IG report came out, Mattis was no longer secretary of defense. And Sally Donnelly and Tony DeMartino had already left the Pentagon to start up a new consulting firm, Pallas Advisors. Teresa Carlson subsequently married André Pienaar.

The JEDI contract was eventually awarded to Microsoft. Amazon is asking a federal court to overturn the Pentagon’s decision. An AWS spokesperson told RealClearInvestigations that the DoD is attempting "to avoid a meaningful and transparent review of the JEDI contract award.” 

In August 2019, Sue Gordon resigned as principal deputy director of national intelligence. Her private sector career has flourished. Last April, she joined the board of defense contractor CACI. According to its website, “CACI is an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Premier Consulting Partner, Public Sector Partner, and Authorized Reseller.” The company brags of its “healthy revenue-generating consulting business on AWS.”

It’s arguable that, given the far reach of AWS in Washington, it would be hard for Gordon to find post-government employment without there being some connection with Amazon or AWS. That said, Gordon is not entirely in the AWS orbit. She consults with Microsoft. Still, the most interesting private company Gordon has gone to work for is one founded by “consultants” with longstanding AWS connections. Gordon is now a senior adviser for the company Sally Donnelly and Tony DeMartino formed after they left the Pentagon: Pallas Advisors.

If it appears there is a steadily revolving door between tech companies and national security workers and officials, it may be because Gordon is in favor of exactly that. In an interview with Wired magazine when she was still in office, Gordon advocated what Wired described as “more of a revolving door.” Gordon was characterized as envisioning “a new paradigm for sharing talented workers between the government and the private sector.” According to Wired, she claimed that techies should start in government where they can learn what the problems and challenges are. They should move over to the private sector where they will have more freedom to innovate. “And then when they are ready to slow down and leave the rat race,” Wired quotes her as saying, “they can return to government.”

Gordon calls this “cross-pollination” and “talent-sharing.”

Critics of tech industry power and influence point out that Big Tech is now among the biggest employers of lobbyists, hiring primarily those who formerly worked for government. In 2010 Amazon fielded eight lobbyists. Last year the company flooded the zone with 118, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

This may or may not be good for government, which can’t afford to fall behind on the latest technologies. But it is clearly good for government workers who leave for the private sector, especially those who had been vocal “partners” and advocates of tech.

 

Read more:

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/02/23/60

 

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free assange, president biden...