The Pentagon.

Silicon Valley Takes the Battlespace

Along with many representatives of Big Tech, President Biden's transition staffers include two people from Rebellion Defense, a shadowy defense startup.Rebellion Defense launched in the summer of 2019 to craft artificial-intelligence (AI) software for the defense industry. It quickly raised $63 million, with the conspicuous backing of its board member Eric Schmidt.

January 19, 2021 | Source: The American Prospect | by Jonathan Guyer

Through an obscure startup named Rebellion Defense, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt attempts to buy his way into the Biden White House.

Days after winning the November election, Joe Biden announced the names of those staffing his transition. Big Tech landed prominent spots. Among the hundreds of personnel on the agency review teams serving the president-elect, there was one from Uber, two from Amazon, and one from Google. And then there were two people from Rebellion Defense, a shadowy defense startup.

The announcement sent Washington insiders scrambling to look up the company. No major defense contractors appeared on the list. “It’s sure odd that a year-old startup like Rebellion winds up with two employees serving on a presidential transition team,” Ken Glueck, the executive vice president of the tech company Oracle, told me.

What is Rebellion Defense? With a Star Wars allusion as its name, this firm is not your typical contractor. Rebellion launched in the summer of 2019 to craft artificial-intelligence (AI) software for the defense industry. Trade publications gushed about how innovative it was.