Four senior executives at Palantir, Meta, and OpenAI have been formally appointed lieutenant colonels in the US Army following the creation of a “special” unit created for rich Big Tech mavens seeking military leadership roles. On June 13, the Army announced the creation of Detachment 201, otherwise known as the “Executive Innovation Corps,” which it describes as “a new initiative designed to fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation.” Four ultra-wealthy executives from top tech companies were sworn in to […]
LTC’s either have command or staff positions and often approve things like operations orders and contracts.
They are not going to have command. The article itself says they’re going to some “Innovation Corps,” which just sounds like some boondoggle assignment on a staff. They will have no actual Army job. They’re just going to be pushing contracts to their companies. That’s bad, but it already happens, so it comes out as just nothing. They are almost certainly not going to be in anyone’s chain of command.
Plus, I’d bet they’ll probably be at the Pentagon. An O-5 there has as much authority as an O-1 in the “real” military.
There’s virtually zero chance they’ve been put there for no reason
Probably just some flag officer’s good idea fairy or a way for a flag to secure a job after retirement. Again, not good, but very par for the course for DoD stupidity and/or corruption.
There are plenty of actual things to get outraged over. Having some tech bros play Army as O-5s is not that important. The DoD already gets bent over a barrel by Palantir and other companies to use their software; it’s wasteful and supports terrible companies. That’s what to get outraged over, not some idiots being appointed as O-5s.
Pushing papers is a job in the Army. It should have been given to someone that earned it.
That’s what to get outraged over, not some idiots being appointed as O-5s.
Honestly this is more personable and deserving of outrage. Yes Palantir getting contracts is technically worse but that’s like getting angry at inflation instead of the price of eggs. People can relate to the price of eggs. People can relate to someone being handed a senior job instead of it going to the person who served.
They are not going to have command. The article itself says they’re going to some “Innovation Corps,” which just sounds like some boondoggle assignment on a staff. They will have no actual Army job. They’re just going to be pushing contracts to their companies. That’s bad, but it already happens, so it comes out as just nothing. They are almost certainly not going to be in anyone’s chain of command.
Plus, I’d bet they’ll probably be at the Pentagon. An O-5 there has as much authority as an O-1 in the “real” military.
Probably just some flag officer’s good idea fairy or a way for a flag to secure a job after retirement. Again, not good, but very par for the course for DoD stupidity and/or corruption.
There are plenty of actual things to get outraged over. Having some tech bros play Army as O-5s is not that important. The DoD already gets bent over a barrel by Palantir and other companies to use their software; it’s wasteful and supports terrible companies. That’s what to get outraged over, not some idiots being appointed as O-5s.
Pushing papers is a job in the Army. It should have been given to someone that earned it.
Honestly this is more personable and deserving of outrage. Yes Palantir getting contracts is technically worse but that’s like getting angry at inflation instead of the price of eggs. People can relate to the price of eggs. People can relate to someone being handed a senior job instead of it going to the person who served.