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Tools</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-62"><a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/">Secret History</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-68"><a href="https://steveblank.com/books-for-startups/">Books for Startups</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-11025"><a href="https://steveblank.com/slides/">Slides/Videos</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-25609"><a href="https://steveblank.com/raising-money/">Raising Money</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div>  <div class="narrowcolumnwrapper"><div class="narrowcolumn"> <div id="content" class="content"> <div class="post-31481 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-air-force category-gordian-knot-center-for-national-security-innovation category-hacking-for-defense category-national-security category-navy" id="post-31481"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/09/17/the-directory-of-dod-program-executive-offices-and-officers-peos/" rel="bookmark">How To Find Your Customer In the Dept of Defense – The Directory of DoD Program Executive Offices</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">September 17, 2024</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p>Finding a customer for your product in the Department of Defense is hard: Who should you talk to? How do you get their attention?</p> <div id="attachment_31539" style="width: 217px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31539" data-attachment-id="31539" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/09/17/the-directory-of-dod-program-executive-offices-and-officers-peos/buds-training-team/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?fit=2669%2C1683&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2669,1683" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>Looking for customers in the DoD</p> " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?fit=300%2C189&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?fit=468%2C295&ssl=1" class="wp-image-31539 " src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?resize=207%2C130&ssl=1" alt="" width="207" height="130" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?resize=300%2C189&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?resize=1024%2C646&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?resize=150%2C95&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?resize=768%2C484&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?resize=1536%2C969&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?resize=2048%2C1291&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/BUDs-training-team.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="(max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-31539" class="wp-caption-text">Looking for DoD customers</p></div> <p>How do you know if they have money to spend on your product?</p> <p>It almost always starts with a Program Executive Office.</p> <hr /> <p>The Department of Defense (DoD) no longer owns all the technologies, products and services to deter or win a war – e.g. AI, autonomy, drones, biotech, access to space, cyber, semiconductors, new materials, etc.</p> <p>Today, a new class of startups are attempting to sell these products to the Defense Department. Amazingly, there is no single DoD-wide phone book available to startups of who to call in the Defense Department.</p> <p>So I wrote one.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Think of the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eOZzQ-elodazM8kG8cXA5mgx21R4WUg9/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PEO Directory</a> linked below as a “Who buys in the government?” phone book.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The DoD buys hundreds of billions of dollars of products and services per year, and nearly all of these purchases are managed by Program Executive Offices. A Program Executive Office may be responsible for a specific program (e.g., the Joint Strike Fighter) or for an entire portfolio of similar programs (e.g., the Navy Program Executive Office for Digital and Enterprise Services). PEOs define requirements and their Contracting Officers buy things (handling the formal purchasing, issuing requests for proposals (RFPs), and signing contracts with vendors.) Program Managers (PMs) work with the PEO and manage subsets of the larger program.</p> <p>Existing defense contractors know who these organizations are and have teams of people tracking budgets and contracts. But startups? Most startups don’t have a clue where to start.</p> <p>This is a classic case of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">information asymmetry</a> and it’s not healthy for the Department of Defense or the nascent startup defense ecosystem.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">That’s why I put this <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eOZzQ-elodazM8kG8cXA5mgx21R4WUg9/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PEO Directory</a> together.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">This first version of the directory lists 75 Program Executive Offices and their Program Executive Officers and Program/Project Managers.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Each Program Executive <em>Office</em> is headed by a Program Executive <em>Officer</em> who is a high ranking official – either a member of the military or a high ranking civilian – responsible for the cost, schedule, and performance of a major system, or portfolio of systems, some worth billions of dollars.</p> <p>Below is a summary of 75 Program Executive Offices in the Department of Defense.</p> <p>You can download the full 64-page document of Program Executive Offices and Officers with all 602 names <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eOZzQ-elodazM8kG8cXA5mgx21R4WUg9/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eOZzQ-elodazM8kG8cXA5mgx21R4WUg9/view?usp=sharing"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31488" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/09/17/the-directory-of-dod-program-executive-offices-and-officers-peos/directory-of-dod-peos-v0-8-page-1/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?fit=2550%2C2684&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2550,2684" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Directory of DoD PEOs v0.8 page 1" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?fit=285%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?fit=468%2C493&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-31488 size-large" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?resize=468%2C493&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="493" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?resize=973%2C1024&ssl=1 973w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?resize=285%2C300&ssl=1 285w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?resize=143%2C150&ssl=1 143w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?resize=768%2C808&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?resize=1459%2C1536&ssl=1 1459w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?resize=1946%2C2048&ssl=1 1946w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-1.png?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="(max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eOZzQ-elodazM8kG8cXA5mgx21R4WUg9/view?usp=sharing"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31489" 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src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-2.png?resize=468%2C499&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="499" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-2.png?resize=960%2C1024&ssl=1 960w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-2.png?resize=281%2C300&ssl=1 281w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-2.png?resize=141%2C150&ssl=1 141w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-2.png?resize=768%2C819&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-2.png?resize=1440%2C1536&ssl=1 1440w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-2.png?resize=1921%2C2048&ssl=1 1921w" sizes="(max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eOZzQ-elodazM8kG8cXA5mgx21R4WUg9/view?usp=sharing"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31490" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/09/17/the-directory-of-dod-program-executive-offices-and-officers-peos/directory-of-dod-peos-v0-8-page-3/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?fit=2537%2C901&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2537,901" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Directory of DoD PEOs v0.8 page 3" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?fit=300%2C107&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?fit=468%2C166&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-31490 size-large" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?resize=468%2C166&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="166" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?resize=1024%2C364&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?resize=300%2C107&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?resize=150%2C53&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?resize=768%2C273&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?resize=1536%2C546&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?resize=2048%2C727&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Directory-of-DoD-PEOs-v0.8-page-3.png?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a><strong>Caveats<br /> </strong>Do not depend on this document for accuracy or completeness.<br /> It is likely incomplete and contains errors.<br /> Military officers typically change jobs every few years.<br /> Program Offices get closed and new ones opened as needed.</p> <p>This means this document was out of date the day it was written. Still it represents an invaluable starting point for startups looking to work with DoD.</p> <p><strong>How to Use The PEO Directory As Part of A Go-To-Market Strategy<br /> </strong>While it’s helpful to know what Program Executive Offices exist and who staffs them, it’s even better to know where the money is, what it’s being spent on, and whether the budget is increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The best place to start is by looking through an overview of the entire defense budget <a href="https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2025/FY2025_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. Then search for those programs in the linked PEO Directory. You can get an idea whether that program has $ Billions, or $ Millions.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Next, take a look at the <a href="https://comptroller.defense.gov/Budget-Materials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">budget documents</a> released by the DoD Comptroller –<br /> particularly the <a href="https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2025/FY2025_p1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">P-1 (Procurement</a>) and R-1 (<a href="https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2025/FY2025_r1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">R&D</a>) budget documents.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Combining <a href="https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2025/FY2025_p1.pdf">the budget document</a> with this PEO directory helps you narrow down which of the 75 Program Executive Offices and 500+ program managers to call on.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">With some practice you can translate the topline, account, or Program Element (PE) Line changes into a sales Go-To-Market strategy, or at least a hypothesis of who to call on.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Armed with the program description (it’s full of jargon and 9-12 months out of date) and the Excel download <a href="https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2025/p1.xlsx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and the Appendix <a href="https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2025/p1_display.xlsx">here</a> –– you can identify targets for sales calls with DoD where your product has the best chance of fitting in.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The people and organizations in this list change more frequently than the money.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Knowing the people is helpful only after you understand their priorities — and money is the best proxy for that.</p> <p><strong>Future Work<br /> </strong>Ultimately we want to give startups not only who to call on, and who has the money, but which Program Offices are receptive to new entrants. And which have converted to portfolio management, which have tried OTA contracts, as well as highlighting those who are doing something novel with metrics or outcomes.</p> <p>Going forward this project will be kept updated by the <a href="https://gordianknot.stanford.edu">Stanford Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation</a>.</p> <p>In the meantime send updates, corrections and comments to sblank@stanford.edu</p> <p><strong>Credit Where Credit Is Due<br /> </strong>Clearly, the U.S. government intends to communicate this information. They have published links to DoD organizations <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Resources/Military-Departments/A-Z-List/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, even <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Resources/Military-Departments/A-Z-List/?tab=Social%20Media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listing DoD social media accounts</a>. But the list is fragmented and irregularly updated. 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And if you can’t pass a security clearance your offer is rescinded. Or you get offered an internship but can’t work on the most interesting part of the project. Sounds like a nonstarter. Well that’s the current process if you want to work for companies or government agencies that work on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information" target="_blank" rel="noopener">classified</a> programs.</p> <hr /> <p style="font-weight: 400;">One Silicon Valley company, <a href="https://www.palantir.com/">Palantir</a>, is trying to change that and shorten the time between getting hired and doing productive work. Here’s why and how.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Over the last five years more of my students have understood that Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine and strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China mean that the world is no longer a stable and safe place. This has convinced many of them to work on national security problems in defense startups.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">However, many of those companies and government agencies require you to work on projects with sensitive information the government wants to protect. These are called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information">classified </a>programs. To get hired, and to work on them, you need to first pass a government security clearance. (A security clearance is how the government learns whether you are trustworthy enough to keep secrets and not damage national security.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">For jobs at most defense startups/contractors or national security agencies, instead of starting work with your offer letter, you’d instead receive a “conditional” job offer – that’s a fancy way to say, “we want you to work here, but you need to wait 3 to 9 months without pay until you start, and if you can’t pass the security clearance we won’t hire you.” That’s a pretty high bar for students who have lots of other options for where to work.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Types of Security Clearances<br /> </strong>The time it takes for the clearance process depends on the thoroughness and how deeply the government investigates your background. That’s directly related to how classified will be the work you will be doing. The three primary levels of classification (from least to greatest) are Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret. <a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31399" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/08/13/security-clearances-at-the-speed-of-startups/dall%c2%b7e-2024-08-11-13-38-57-a-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-top-secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles-the-person-is/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1024,1024" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="DALL·E 2024-08-11 13.38.57 – A person anxiously waiting to receive a Top Secret security clearance, depicted in a surreal environment filled with numerous obstacles. The person is" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?fit=468%2C468&ssl=1" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-31399" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?resize=768%2C768&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?w=1024&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-08-11-13.38.57-A-person-anxiously-waiting-to-receive-a-Top-Secret-security-clearance-depicted-in-a-surreal-environment-filled-with-numerous-obstacles.-The-person-is.webp?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a>The type and depth of background investigations to get a security clearance depends on what level of classified information you will be working with. For example, if you just need access to Confidential or Secret material they would do a <a href="https://www.ekentech.com/national-agency-check-with-law-and-credit">National Agency Check with Law and Credit (NACLC).</a> The government will look at the FBI’s criminal history repository, do a credit check, and a check with your local law enforcement agencies. This can take a relatively short time (~3 months).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">On the other hand if you’re going to work on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_compartmented_information">Top Secret/SCI</a> project, this requires a more extensive (and much longer ~6-9 months) background check called a <a href="https://acqnotes.com/acqnote/careerfields/single-scope-background-investigation">Single Scope Background Investigation</a> (SSBI). Some types of clearances also require you to take a polygraph (lie-detector) test.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>How Does the Government “Clear” you?<br /> </strong>The <a href="https://www.dcsa.mil/About/">National Background Investigation Services</a> (NBIS) is the government agency that will investigate your background. They will ask about your:</p> <ul style="font-weight: 400;"> <li>Drugs and Alcohol (hard drugs, addiction, chronic drinking, etc.)</li> <li>Criminal conduct (felonies..)</li> <li>Financial stability (they’ll run a Credit Bureau Report)</li> <li>How you’ve used IT systems (e.g. have you hacked any?)</li> <li>United States allegiance</li> <li>Foreign influence (do you own property overseas? Foreign investments, etc.)</li> <li>Psychological conditions and personal behavior.</li> <li>Travel History (have you lived or gone to China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria, etc.)</li> <li>Plus, they will talk to your friends, relatives, current and ex-significant others, etc. to learn more about you</li> </ul> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Palantir’s Accelerated Student Clearance Plan<br /> </strong>Palantir wants their interns and new hires to hit the ground running and work on the toughest and most interesting government problems from day one. However, these types of problems require having a security clearance. The problem is that today, all companies start an application for a security clearance the day you show up for work.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Palantir’s idea? If you get an internship or full-time offer from Palantir <em>while you’re still in school</em>, they will immediately employ you as a contractor. This will let them start your security clearance process while in school <em>before</em> you show up for work. That means you will be cleared ~9 months later in time for your first day on the job. Think of this like a college early admissions program. (If you’re interning, Palantir will hold your clearance for you if you come back to Palantir the following year.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Why Do This?<br /> </strong>Obviously this is a long-term strategic investment in Palantir’s college talent, but it also affects the entire defense ecosystem – to create a broader team of America’s best engineers who are able to support our country’s most critical missions. 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How an organization reacts to this type of disruption determines whether they adapt or die.</p> <hr /> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31280" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/dall%c2%b7e-2024-07-26-18-25-42-a-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1024,1024" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="bustling innovation theater filled with creative individuals and teams showcasing their ideas, with the output symbolically circling a garbage pail" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?fit=468%2C468&ssl=1" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-31280" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?resize=768%2C768&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?w=1024&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DALL%C2%B7E-2024-07-26-18.25.42-A-bustling-innovation-theater-filled-with-creative-individuals-and-teams-showcasing-their-ideas-with-the-output-symbolically-circling-a-garbage-pail.webp?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a>I’ve been working with a large organization whose very existence is being challenged by an onslaught of technology (AI, autonomy, quantum, cyberattacks, access to space, et al) from aggressive competitors, both existing and new. These competitors are deploying these new technologies to challenge the expensive (and until now incredibly effective) legacy systems that this organization has built for decades. (And they are doing it at speed that looks like a blur to this organization.) But the organization is also challenged by the inaction of its own leaders, who cannot let go of the expensive systems and suppliers they built over decades. It’s a textbook case of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Innovators Dilemma</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In the commercial world creative destruction happens all the time. You get good, you get complacent, and eventually you get punched in the face. The same holds true for Government organizations, albeit with <a href="https://steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/NYT-Times-Dec-7-1941.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more serious consequences</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">This organization’s fate is not yet sealed. Inside it, I’ve watched incredibly innovative groups create autonomous systems and software platforms that rival anything a startup is doing. They’ve found champions in the field organizations, and they’ve run experiments with them. They’ve provided evidence that their organization could adapt to the changing competitive environment and even regain the lead. Simultaneously, they’ve worked with outside organizations to complement and accelerate their internal offerings. They’re on the cusp of a potential transformation – but leadership hesitates to make substantive changes.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The “Do Nothing” Feedback Loop<br /> </strong>I’ve seen this play out time and again in commercial and government organizations. There’s nothing more frustrating for innovators than to watch their organization being disrupted while its senior leaders hesitate to take more than token actions. On the other hand, no one who leads a large organization wants it to go out of business. So, why is adapting to changed circumstances so hard for existing organizations?</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The answer starts at the top. Responding to disruption <u>requires action from senior leadership: </u>e.g. the CEO, board, Secretary, etc. Fearful that a premature pivot can put their legacy business or forces at risk, senior leaders delay deciding – often until it’s too late.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">My time with this organization helped me appreciate why adopting and <em>widely deploying</em> something disruptive is difficult and painful in companies and government agencies. Here are the reasons:</p> <p><strong>Disconnected Innovators – </strong>Most leaders of large organizations are not fluent in the new technologies and the disruptive operating concepts/business models they can create. They depend on guidance from their staff and trusted advisors – most of whom have been hired and promoted for their expertise in delivering incremental improvements in <em>existing </em>systems. The innovators in their organization, by contrast, rarely have direct access to senior leaders. Innovators who embrace radically new technologies and concepts that challenge the status quo and dogma are not welcomed, let alone promoted, or funded.</p> <p><strong><em><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31268" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/innovation-process-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?fit=1007%2C358&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1007,358" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Innovation process 2" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?fit=300%2C107&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?fit=468%2C166&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-31268" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?resize=468%2C166&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="166" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?w=1007&ssl=1 1007w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?resize=300%2C107&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?resize=150%2C53&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?resize=768%2C273&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-2.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></em></strong></p> <p><strong>Legacy </strong><em>– </em>The organization I’ve been working with, like many others, has decades of investment in existing concepts, systems, platforms, R&D labs, training, and a known set of external contractors. Building and sustaining their existing platforms and systems has left little money for creating and deploying new ones at the same scale (problems that new entrants/adversaries may not have.) Advocating that one or more of their platforms or systems are at risk or may no longer be effective is considered heresy and likely the end of a career.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The <em>“</em><strong>Frozen Middle</strong><em>” – </em>A common refrain I hear from innovators in large organizations is that too many people are resistant to change <em>(“they just don’t get it”.) </em>After seeing this behavior for decades, I’ve learned that the frozen middle occurs because of what’s called the<em>“</em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semmelweis_reflex"><em>Semmelweis effect</em></a>” – the <em><u>un</u>conscious</em> tendency of people to stick to preexisting beliefs and reject new ideas that contradict them – because it undermines their established norms and/or beliefs. (They really don’t get it.) This group is most comfortable sticking with existing process and procedures and hires and promotes people who execute the status quo. This works well when the system can continue to succeed with incremental growth, but in the face of more radical change, this normal human reaction shuts out new learning and limits an organizations’ ability to rapidly adapt to new circumstances. The result is organizational blinders and frustrated innovators. And you end up with world-class people and organizations for a world that no longer exists.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Not everyone is affected by the Semmelweis effect<em>. </em>It’s often mid-grade managers / officers in this same “middle” who come up with disruptive solutions and concepts. However, unless they have senior champions (VP’s, Generals / Admirals) and are part of an organization with a mission to solve operational problems, these solutions die. These innovators lack alternate places where the culture encourages and funds experimentation and non-consensus ideas. Ironically, organizations tend to chase these employees out because they don’t conform, or if forced to conform, they grow disillusioned and leave for more innovative work in industry.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31322" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/innovation-process-7/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?fit=3933%2C1304&ssl=1" data-orig-size="3933,1304" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Innovation process 7" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?fit=300%2C99&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?fit=468%2C155&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-31322" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?resize=468%2C155&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="155" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?resize=1024%2C340&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?resize=300%2C99&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?resize=150%2C50&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?resize=768%2C255&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?resize=1536%2C509&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?resize=2048%2C679&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-7.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Hubris </strong>is managerial behavior of overconfidence and complacency. Unlike the unconscious Semmelweis effect, this is an active and <em>conscious denial </em>of facts. It occurs as some leaders/managers believe change threatens their jobs as decision-makers or that new programs, vendors or ideas increase the risk of failure, which may hurt their image and professional or promotional standing.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In the organization I’ve been working with, the internal engineering group offers senior leaders reassurances that they are responding to disruption by touting incremental upgrades to their existing platforms and systems.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Meanwhile <em>because their budget is a zero-sum game</em>, they starve innovators of funds and organizational support for deployment of disruptive new concepts at scale. The result is “innovation theater.” In the commercial world this behavior results in innovation demos but no shipping products and a company on the path to irrelevance or bankruptcy. In the military it’s demos but no funding for deployments at scale.</p> <p><strong>Fear of Failure/Risk Aversion </strong>– Large organizations are built around repeatable and scalable processes that are designed to be “fail safe.” Here new initiatives need to match existing budgeting, legal, HR and acquisition, processes and procedures. However, disruptive projects can only succeed in organizations that have a “safe-to-fail” culture. This is where learning and discovery happens via incremental and iterative experimentation with a portfolio of new ideas and failure is considered part of the process. “Fail safe” versus “safe-to-fail” organizations need to be separate and require different culture, different people, different development processes and risk tolerance.</p> <p><strong>Activist Investors Kill Transformation in Commercial Companies<br /> </strong>A limit on transformation speed unique to commercial organizations is the fear of “<a href="https://hbr.org/2017/10/why-ges-jeff-immelt-lost-his-job-disruption-and-activist-investors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activist Investors</a>.” “Activist investors” push public companies to optimize short-term profit, by avoiding or limiting major investments in new opportunities and technology. When these investors gain control of a company, innovation investments are reduced, staff is cut, factories and R&D centers closed, and profitable parts of the company and other valuable assets sold.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31328" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/innovation-process-9/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?fit=4029%2C1833&ssl=1" data-orig-size="4029,1833" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Innovation process 9" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?fit=300%2C136&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?fit=468%2C213&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-31328" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?resize=468%2C213&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="213" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?resize=1024%2C466&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?resize=300%2C136&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?resize=150%2C68&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?resize=768%2C349&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?resize=1536%2C699&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?resize=2048%2C932&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-9.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a>Unique Barriers for Government Organizations</strong><br /> Government organizations face additional constraints that make them even slower to respond to change than large companies.</p> <p>To start, <strong>leaders of the largest government organizations are often political appointees</strong>. Many have decades of relevant experience, but others are acting way above their experience level. This kind of mismatch tends to happen more frequently in government than in private industry.</p> <p><strong>Leaders’ tenures are too short </strong><em>– </em>All but a few political appointees last only as long as their president in the White House, while leaders of programs and commands in the military services often serve 2- or 3-year tours. This is way too short to deeply understand and effectively execute organizational change. Because most government organizations lack a culture of formal <em>innovation doctrine</em> or playbook – a body of knowledge that establishes a common frame of reference and common professional language – <em>institutional learning tends to be ephemeral rather than enduring</em>. Little of the knowledge, practices, shared beliefs, theory, tactics, tools, procedures, language, and resources that the organization built under the last leader gets forwarded. Instead each new leader relearns and imposes their own plans and policies.</p> <p><strong>Getting Along Gets Rewarded </strong>– Career promotion in all services is primarily driven by “getting along” with the status quo. This leads to things like not cancelling a failing program, not looking for new suppliers who might be cheaper/ better/ more responsive, pursuing existing force design and operating concepts even when all available evidence suggests they’re no longer viable, selecting existing primes/contractors, or not pointing out that a major platform or weapon is no longer effective. The incentives are to not take risks. Doing so is likely the end of a career. Few get promoted for those behaviors. This discourages non-consensus thinking. Yet disruption requires risk.</p> <p><strong>Revolving doors</strong> – Senior leaders leave government service and go to work for the very companies whose programs they managed, and who they had purchased systems from (often <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10600">Prime contractors</a>). The result is that few who contemplate leaving the service and want a well-paying job with a contractor will hold them to account or suggest an alternate vendor while in the service.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31323" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/innovation-process-8/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?fit=4025%2C2220&ssl=1" data-orig-size="4025,2220" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Innovation process 8" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?fit=300%2C165&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?fit=468%2C258&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-31323" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?resize=468%2C258&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="258" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?resize=1024%2C565&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?resize=300%2C165&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?resize=150%2C83&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?resize=768%2C424&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?resize=1536%2C847&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?resize=2048%2C1130&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-8.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p><strong>Prime Contractors </strong><em>– </em>are one of our nation’s greatest assets while being our greatest obstacles to disruptive change. In the 20th century platforms/weapons were mostly hardware with software components. In the 21st century, platforms/weapons are increasingly software with hardware added. Most primes still use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Waterfall development</a> with distinct planning, design, development, and testing phases rather than <a href="https://software.af.mil/resources/agile/agile-vs-waterfall/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Agile (iterative and incremental </a>development with <u>daily</u> software releases). The result is that primes have a demonstrated inability to deliver complex systems on time. (Moving primes to software upgradable systems/or cloud-based breaks their financial model.)</p> <p>As well<em>, </em>prime contractors typically have a “lock” on existing government contracts. That’s because it’s less risky for acquisition officials to choose them for follow-on work– and primes have decades of experience in working through the byzantine and complex government purchasing process; and they have tons of people and money to influence all parts of the government acquisition system—from the requirements writers to program managers, to congressional staffers to the members of the Armed Services and Appropriations committees. New entrants have little chance to compete.</p> <p><strong>Congress – </strong>Lawmakers <em>have incentives to support the status quo but few inducements to change it. </em>Congress has a major say in what systems and platforms suppliers get used, with a bias to the status quo. To keep their own jobs, lawmakers shape military appropriations bills to support their constituents’ jobs and to attract donations from the contractors who hire them. (They and their staffers are also keeping the revolving door in mind for their next job.) Many congressional decisions that appear in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and in appropriations are to support companies that provide the most jobs in their districts and the most funds for their reelection. These come from the Prime contractors.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>What to Do About It?<br /> </strong>It starts at the top. Confronted with disruptive threats, senior leaders must actively work to understand:</p> <ul> <li>The <em>timing </em>of the threat – disruption never comes with a memo, and when it happens its impact is exponential. When will disruption happen that will make our core business or operating concepts/force design obsolete? <span style="font-weight: 400;">Will our competitors get there first? </span></li> <li>The <em>magnitude </em>of the threat – will this put a small part of our business/capabilities at risk or will it affect our entire organization?</li> <li>The <em>impact </em>of the threat – will this have a minor impact or does it threaten the leadership or the very existence of the organization. What happens if our competitors/adversaries adopt this first?</li> <li>The <em>response </em>to the threat- Small experiments, department transformation, and company or organization-wide transformation – and its timeline.</li> </ul> <p><em>Increase Visibility of Disruptive Tech and Concepts/Add Outside Opinions<br /> </em></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">To counter disruptive threats, the typical reporting relationship of innovators filtered through multiple layers of management must be put aside. <ul> <li>Senior leaders need a direct and unfiltered pipeline to their internal innovation groups for monthly updates and demos of evidenced-based experiments in operational settings.</li> <li>And the new operating concepts to go with it.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Create a “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_team">Red Team</a>” of advisors from outside their organization. <ul> <li>This group should update senior leaders on the progress of competitors</li> <li>And offer unbiased assessment of their own internal engineering/R&D progress.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Stand up a <a href="https://centerformaritimestrategy.org/publications/bring-back-the-cno-strategic-studies-group/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strategic studies group</a> that can develop new business models/ new strategic concepts usable at the operational level – ensure its connection with external sources of technical innovation</li> <li>Create a “sensing” and “response” organization that takes actual company/agency/service problems out to VC’s and startups and seeing how they would solve them <ul> <li>However, unless senior leaders 1) actively make a point of seeing these first hand (at least biannually), <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> have the mechanism to “respond” with purchase orders/ OTA’s, this effort will have little impact.</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p><em>Actively and Urgently Gather Evidence</em></p> <ul> <li>Run real-world experiments – simulations, war games, – using disruptive tech and operating concepts (in offense and defense.)</li> <li>See and actively seek out the impact of disruption in adjacent areas e.g. AI’s impact on protein modeling, drones in the battlefield and Black Sea in Ukraine, et al.</li> <li>Ask the pointy end of the organization (e.g the sales force, fleet admirals) if they are willing to take more risk on new capabilities.</li> </ul> <p>These activities need happen in months not years. Possible recommendations from these groups include do nothing, run small experiments, transform a single function or department, or a company or organization-wide transformation.</p> <p><em>What Does Organization-wide Transformation look like?</em></p> <ul> <li>What outcome do we desire?</li> <li>When do we need it?</li> <li>What budget, people, capital equipment are needed? <ul> <li>What would need to be divested?</li> </ul> </li> <li>How to communicate this to all stakeholders and get them aligned?</li> <li>In the face of disruption/ crisis/ wartime advanced R&D groups now need a seat at the table with budgets sufficient for deployment at scale. <ul> <li>Consider organizing as an <a href="https://steveblank.com/2021/09/01/lead-and-disrupt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ambidextrous organization</a> (e.g. <a href="https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/falcon-9/">SpaceX Falcon 9 </a>operational execution versus <a href="https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/">Starship</a> disruptive experimentation) (see <a href="https://hbr.org/2004/04/the-ambidextrous-organization" rel="">this HBR article.</a>)</li> <li>In addition to mangers of process, create <em>rapid</em> <em>innovation teams </em>(technologists, visionaries, senior champions)</li> </ul> </li> <li>Finally, encourage more imagination. How can we use partners and other outside resources for technology and capital?</li> </ul> <p>Examples of leaders who transformed their organization in the face of disruption include <a href="https://hbr.org/2023/02/how-microsoft-became-innovative-again" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella</a> and Steve Jobs from Apple, in defense, <a href="https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0497perry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Perry</a>, Harold Brown and <a href="https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/3511939/innovation-and-national-security-ash-carters-legacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ash Carter</a>. Each dealt with disruption with acceptance, acknowledgment, imagination and action.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="31278" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/innovation-process-6/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?fit=972%2C486&ssl=1" data-orig-size="972,486" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Innovation process 6" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?fit=300%2C150&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?fit=468%2C234&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-31278" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?resize=468%2C234&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="234" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?w=972&ssl=1 972w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?resize=300%2C150&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?resize=150%2C75&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Innovation-process-6.jpg?resize=768%2C384&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a>Much more to be said about transformation in future posts.</p> <iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="91" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1896816543&width=false&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false"></iframe> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Why%20Large%20Organizations%20Struggle%20With%20Disruption%2C%20and%20What%20to%20Do%20About%20It&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2024%2F07%2F30%2Fwhy-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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data-src='https://widgets.wp.com/likes/?ver=14.1-a.7#blog_id=6599589&post_id=31262&origin=steveblank.com&obj_id=6599589-31262-6746bc6fe453e&n=1' data-name='like-post-frame-6599589-31262-6746bc6fe453e' data-title='Like or Reblog'><h3 class="sd-title">Like this:</h3><div class='likes-widget-placeholder post-likes-widget-placeholder' style='height: 55px;'><span class='button'><span>Like</span></span> <span class="loading">Loading...</span></div><span class='sd-text-color'></span><a class='sd-link-color'></a></div> <p class="postinfo"> Filed under: <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/innovation-doctrine/" rel="category tag">Innovation Doctrine</a>, <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/national-security/" rel="category tag">National Security</a> | <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/#comments">6 Comments »</a> </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-30827 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-corporate-govt-innovation category-national-security category-secret-history-of-silicon-valley" id="post-30827"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/" rel="bookmark">Secret History – When Kodak Went to War with Polaroid</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">May 16, 2024</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p style="font-weight: 400;">This part 2 of the Secret History of Polaroid and Edwin Land. <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read part 1</a> for context.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Kodak and Polaroid, the two most famous camera companies of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, had a great partnership for 20+ years. Then in an inexplicable turnabout Kodak decided to destroy Polaroid’s business. To this day, every story of why Kodak went to war with Polaroid is wrong.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The real reason can be found in the highly classified world of overhead reconnaissance satellites.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s the real story.</p> <hr /> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In April 1969 Kodak tore up a 20-year manufacturing partnership with Polaroid. In a surprise to everyone at Polaroid, Kodak declared war. They terminated their agreement to supply Polaroid with negative film for Polacolor – the only color film Polaroid had on the market. Kodak gave Polaroid two years’ notice but immediately raised the film price 10% in the U.S. and 50% internationally. And Kodak publicly announced they were going to make film for Polaroid’s cameras – a knife to the heart for Polaroid as film sales were what made Polaroid profitable. Shortly thereafter, Kodak announced they were also going to make instant cameras in direct competition with Polaroid cameras. In short, they were going after every part of Polaroid’s business.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">What happened in April 1969 they caused Kodak to react this way?</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">And what was the result?</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong><em>Read the sidebar</em></strong><em> for a Background on Film and Instant Photography </em></p> <div style="background-color: #ededed;"> <div style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 5px;"> <p>Today we take for granted that images can be seen and sent instantaneously on all our devices — phone, computers, tablets, etc. But that wasn’t always the case.</p> <p><strong>Film Photography<br /> </strong>It wasn’t until the mid-19<sup>th</sup> century that it was possible to permanently capture an image. For the next 30 years photography was in the hands of an elite set of professionals. Each photo they took was captured on individual glass plates they coated with chemicals. To make a print, the photographers had to process the plates in more chemicals. Neither the cameras nor processing were within the realm of a consumer. But in 1888 Kodak changed that when they introduced a real disruptive innovation – a camera preloaded with <a href="https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/eastman-kodak.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a spool of strippable paper film with 100-exposures that consumers</a>, rather than professional photographers, could use. When the roll was finished, the entire camera was sent back to the Kodak lab in Rochester, NY, where it was reloaded and returned to the customer while the first roll was being processed. But the real revolution happened in 1900 when Kodak introduced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak_Brownie">the Brownie camera</a> with replaceable film spools. This made photography available to a mass market. You just sent the film to be developed, not the camera.</p> <p>Up until 1936 consumer cameras captured images in black in white. That year Kodak introduced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome">Kodachrome</a>, the first color film for slides. In 1942, they introduced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodacolor_(still_photography)">Kodacolor</a> for prints.</p> <p>While consumers now had easy-to-use cameras, the time between taking a picture and seeing the picture had a long delay. The film inside the camera needed to be developed and printed. After you clicked the shutter and took the picture, you sent the film to a drop-off point in a store. They sent your film to a large <a href="https://youtu.be/hFyM_26E40U?feature=shared&t=40" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regional photo processing lab</a> that developed the film (using a bath of chemicals), then printed the photos as physical pictures. You would get your pictures back in days or a week. (In the late 1970s, mini-photo processing labs dramatically shortened that process, offering 1-hour photo development.) Meanwhile…</p> <p><strong>Instant Photography<br /> </strong>In 1937 Edwin Land co-founded Polaroid to make an optical filter called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">polarizers</a>. They were used in photographic filters, glare-free sunglasses, and products that gave the illusion of 3-D. During WWII Polaroid made anti-glare goggles for soldiers and pilots, gun sights, viewfinders, cameras, and other optical devices with polarizing lenses.</p> <p>In 1948 Polaroid pivoted. They launched what would become synonymous with an “Instant Camera.” In its first instant camera — the<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBoOjxEN6r0" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Model 95</a> – the film contained all the necessary chemicals to “instantly” develop a photo. The instant film was made of two parts – a negative sheet that lined up with a positive sheet with the chemicals in between squeezed through a set of rollers. <em>The negative sheet was manufactured by Kodak</em>. Instead of days or weeks, it now took less than 90 seconds to see your picture.</p> </div> </div> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30865" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/polaroid-camera-ad/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?fit=1410%2C1126&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1410,1126" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Polaroid camera ad" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?fit=468%2C374&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-30865" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?resize=468%2C374&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="374" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?resize=1024%2C818&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?resize=150%2C120&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?resize=768%2C613&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?w=1410&ssl=1 1410w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polaroid-camera-ad.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <div style="background-color: #ededed;"> <div style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 5px;"> <p>For the next 30 years Polaroid made evolutionary better Instant Cameras. In 1963 Polacolor Instant color film was introduced. In 1973 the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_SX-70" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera</a> was introduced with a new type of instant film that no longer had to be peeled apart.</p> </div> </div> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>A Secret Grudge Match</strong></h3> <p style="font-weight: 400;">To understand why Kodak tried to put Polaroid out of business you need to know some of most classified secrets of the Cold War.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Project GENETRIX and The U-2</strong><em> – Balloon and Airplane Reconnaissance over the Soviet Union<br /> </em>During the Cold War with the Soviet Union the U.S. intelligence community was <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/1960-08-19b.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">desperate for intelligence</a>. In the early 1950s the U.S. sent <a href="https://steveblank.com/2010/01/28/balloon-wars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unmanned reconnaissance balloons</a> over the Soviet Union.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Next, from 1956-1960 the CIA flew the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2">Lockheed U-2</a> spy plane over the Soviet Union on 24 missions, taking <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB54/st04.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">photos of its military installations</a>. (The U-2 program was <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB74/U2-03.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kicked off by a 1954 memo from Edwin Land (Polaroid CEO) to the director of the CIA</a>.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The U-2 cameras used Kodak film, processed in a secret Kodak lab codenamed <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/history/csnr/programs/docs/Bridgehead%20Eastman%20Kodak%20Company.pdf?ver=2019-03-29-1031353-233&timestamp=1553870223588" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bridgehead</a>. In May 1960 a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_U-2_incident">U-2 was shot down</a> inside Soviet territory and the U.S. stopped aircraft overflights of the Soviet Union. But luckily in 1956 the U.S. intelligence community had concluded that the future of gathering intelligence over the Soviet Union would be with spy satellites orbiting in space.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Air Force – SAMOS – </strong><em> 1<sup>st</sup> Generation Photo Reconnaissance Satellites<br /> </em>By the late 1950s the Department of Defense decided that the future of photo reconnaissance satellites would be via an Air Force program codenamed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samos_(satellite)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SAMOS</a>.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BIMAT-Scanner.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30838" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/bimat-scanner/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BIMAT-Scanner.jpg?fit=195%2C122&ssl=1" data-orig-size="195,122" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="BIMAT Scanner" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BIMAT-Scanner.jpg?fit=195%2C122&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BIMAT-Scanner.jpg?fit=195%2C122&ssl=1" class="size-full wp-image-30838 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BIMAT-Scanner.jpg?resize=195%2C122&ssl=1" alt="" width="195" height="122" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BIMAT-Scanner.jpg?w=195&ssl=1 195w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BIMAT-Scanner.jpg?resize=150%2C94&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The first <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA606620.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SAMOS</a> satellites would have a camera that would take pictures and develop them while orbiting earth using special <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP33-02415A000500120032-7.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kodak Bimat film</a>, then scan the negative and transmit the image to a ground station. After multiple rocket failures and realization that the resolution and number of images the satellite could downlink would be woefully inadequate for the type and number of targets (it would take 3 hours to downlink the photos from a single pass), the film read-out SAMOS satellites were canceled.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong><em>Sidebar</em></strong><em>– Kodak Goes to The Moon<br /> </em></p> <div style="background-color: #ededed;"> <div style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 5px;">While the Kodak Bimat film and scanner <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/foia/declass/mol/824.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">never made it</a> as an intelligence reconnaissance system around the earth, it did make it to the moon. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/lunar-orbiters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA’s Lunar Orbiter</a> program to map the moon <a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/book/introduction.shtml#:~:text=Kodak%20Bimat%20film%20consists%20of,contact%20on%20the%20processing%20drum." target="_blank" rel="noopener">got their Kodak <u>Bimat film</u> and scanner camera</a>s from the defunct SAMOS program. In 1966 and ‘67 NASA successfully launched 5 Lunar Orbiters around the moon developing the film onboard and transmitting a total of 3,062pictures to earth. (The resolution of the images and the fact that it took <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19660009057/downloads/19660009057.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">40 minutes to send each photo</a> back was fine for NASA’s needs.)</div> </div> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>CIA’s CORONA – </strong><em>2<sup>nd</sup> Generation Photo Reconnaissance Satellites<br /> </em>It was the CIA’s <a href="https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/exhibit/corona-americas-first-imaging-satellite-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CORONA film-based photo reconnaissance satellites</a> that first succeeded in returning intelligence photos from space. Designed as a rapid cheap hack, it was intended as a stopgap until more capable systems entered service. Fairchild built the first few CORONA cameras, but ultimately <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/65/documents/foia/CAL-Records/Cabinet2/DrawerA/2%20A%200090.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Itek became the camera system s</a>upplier. CORONA sent the exposed film back to earth in reentry vehicles that were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdsn4snbzjo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recovered in mid-air</a>. The film was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_processing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> by Kodak at their secret <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/history/csnr/programs/docs/Bridgehead%20Eastman%20Kodak%20Company.pdf?ver=2019-03-29-1031353-233&timestamp=1553870223588" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bridgehead</a> lab and sent to intelligence analysts in the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81M00980R001900010055-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CIA’s National Photographic Interpretation Center</a> (NPIC) who examined the film. (While orbiting 94 miles above the earth the cameras achieved 4 ½-foot resolution.) CORONA was kept in service from 1960 to 1972, completing 145 missions.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CORONA-Recon-Systems.png?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30857" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/corona-recon-systems-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CORONA-Recon-Systems.png?fit=310%2C365&ssl=1" data-orig-size="310,365" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="CORONA Recon Systems" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CORONA-Recon-Systems.png?fit=255%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CORONA-Recon-Systems.png?fit=310%2C365&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-30857 size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CORONA-Recon-Systems.png?resize=255%2C300&ssl=1" alt="" width="255" height="300" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CORONA-Recon-Systems.png?resize=255%2C300&ssl=1 255w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CORONA-Recon-Systems.png?resize=127%2C150&ssl=1 127w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CORONA-Recon-Systems.png?w=310&ssl=1 310w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 255px) 100vw, 255px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Film recovery via reentry vehicles would be the standard for the next 16 years.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Sidebar</strong> – <em>The CIA versus the National Reconnaissance Office</em> (NRO)</p> <div style="background-color: #ededed;"> <div style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 5px;"> <p>With the CIA’s success with CORONA, and the failure of the Air Force original SAMOS program, the Department of Defense felt the CIA was usurping its role in Reconnaissance. In 1961 it was agreed that all satellite Reconnaissance would be coordinated by a single <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB35/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Reconnaissance Office</a> (the NRO). For 31 years satellite and spy plane reconnaissance was organized as four separate covert programs:</p> <p>Program A – Air Force satellite programs: SAMOS, GAMBIT, DORIAN…<br /> Program B – CIA satellite programs: CORONA, HEXAGON, KEENAN…<br /> Program C – Navy satellite programs: GRAB, POPPY …<br /> Program D – CIA/Air Force reconnaissance Aircraft: U-2, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_A-12">A-12</a>/SR-71, ST/POLLY, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_D-21">D-21</a>…</p> <p>While this setup was rational on paper, the CIA and NRO would have a <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/monograph/nro/nromono.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decades -long political battle over who would specify, design, build and task reconnaissance satellites</a>. The CIA’s outside expert on imaging reconnaissance satellites was… Edwin Land CEO of Polaroid.</p> <p>The NRO’s existence wasn’t even acknowledged until 1992.</p> </div> </div> <p><strong>Air Force/NRO – GAMBIT</strong> – <em>3<sup>rd</sup> Generation Film Photo Reconnaissance Satellites<br /> </em>After the failure of the SAMOS on-orbit scanning system, the newly established National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) regrouped and adopted film recovery via reentry vehicles.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Prodded by the NRO and Air Force, <a href="https://archive.org/details/nro-gamhex-docs/4%20-%20Eastman%20Kodak%20Blanket%20Proposal/mode/2up?view=theater" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Kodak</em> put in an “unsolicited” proposal</a> for a next-generation imaging satellite codenamed <a href="https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1279/2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GAMBIT</a>. Kodak cameras on GAMBIT had <em>much</em> better resolution than the Itek cameras on CORONA. In orbit 80 miles up, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUIakZq0JGk&t=314s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GAMBIT</a> had high-resolution spotting capability – but in a narrow field of view. This complemented the CORONA broad area imaging. GAMBIT-1 (KH-7) produced images of 2-4 feet in resolution. It flew for 38 missions from July 1963 to June 1967. The follow-on program, GAMBIT-3 (KH-8), provided even sharper images with resolution measured in inches. GAMBiT-3 flew for 54 missions from July 1966 to August 1984. The resolution of GAMBITs photos wouldn’t be surpassed for decades.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30836" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/satellite-recon-systems-gambit/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?fit=2880%2C1620&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2880,1620" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Satellite Recon Systems GAMBIT" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?fit=468%2C263&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-30836" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?resize=468%2C263&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="263" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?resize=150%2C84&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-GAMBIT.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>CIA – HEXAGON</strong> – <em>4<sup>th</sup> Generation Film Photo Reconnaissance Satellites<br /> </em>Meanwhile the CIA decided <u>it</u> was going to build the next generation reconnaissance satellite after GAMBIT. Hexagon represented another technological leap forward. Unlike GAMBIT that had a narrow field of view, the CIA proposed a satellite that could photograph a 300-nautical-mile-wide by 16.8-nautical-mile-long area in a single frame. Unlike GAMBIT whose cameras were made by Kodak, <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/65/documents/foia/declass/GAMHEX/GAMBIT%20and%20HEXAGON%20Histories/2.PDF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HEXAGON’s</a> cameras would be made by Perkin Elmer.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30837" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/satellite-recon-systems-hexagon/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?fit=2880%2C1620&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2880,1620" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Satellite Recon Systems hexagon" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?fit=468%2C263&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-30837" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?resize=468%2C263&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="263" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?resize=150%2C84&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Satellite-Recon-Systems-hexagon.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>CIA Versus NRO – HEXAGON versus DORIAN<br /> </strong>In 1969 the new Nixon administration was looking to cut spending and the intelligence budget was a big target. There were several new, very expensive programs being built: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-9_Hexagon">HEXAGON</a>, the CIA’s school bus-sized film satellite; and a military space station: the NRO/Air Force <a href="https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2560/1">Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL)</a> with its <a href="https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4654/1">DORIAN KH-10 film-based camera</a> (made by Kodak). There was also a proposed high-resolution GAMBIT-follow-on satellite called FROG (Film Read Out GAMBIT) – again with a Kodak <a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP33-02415A000500120032-7.pdf">Bimat camera</a> and a laser scanner.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In March 1969, President Nixon canceled the CIA’s HEXAGON satellite program in favor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_Orbiting_Laboratory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Manned Orbiting Laboratory</a> (MOL), the Air Force space station with the Kodak DORIAN camera. It looked like Kodak had won and the CIA’s proposal lost.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">However, the CIA fought back.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The next month, in April 1969, the Director of the CIA used the recommendation of CIA’s reconnaissance intelligence panel – <em>headed by Edwin Land (Polaroid’s CEO)</em> to get President Nixon to reverse his decision. Land’s panel argued that HEXAGON was essential to monitoring arms control treaties with the Soviet Union. Land said <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/foia/declass/mol/705.pdf">DORIAN would be useless because astronauts on the military space station could only photograph small amounts of territory, missing other things that could be a few miles away</a>. In contrast, HEXAGON covered so much territory that there was simply no place for the Soviet Union to hide any forbidden bombers or missiles.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Land’s reconnaissance panel recommended: 1) canceling the manned part of the NRO/Air Force <a href="https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2560/1">Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL)</a> and 2) using the DORIAN optics in a robotic system (which was ultimately never built) and 3) urging the President to instead start “highest priority” development of a “simple, long-life imaging satellite, using an array of photosensitive elements to convert the image to electrical signals for immediate transmission.” (This would become the KH-11 KEENAN, <em>ending the need for film-based cameras in space.)</em></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The result was:</p> <ul> <li>Nixon <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/foia/declass/mol/698.pdf">canceled</a> NRO/Air Force <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/foia/declass/mol/800.pdf">Manned Orbiting Laboratory</a> (MOL) and its Kodak <a href="https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4654/1">DORIAN film-based camera</a>,</li> <li>Nixon told the CIA to build the HEXAGON satellite with its Perkin Elmer camera.</li> </ul> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Over the next two years, Land <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/foia/declass/MAJOR%20NRO%20PROGRAMS%20&%20PROJECTS/NRO%20EOI/SC-2016-00001_C05093212.pdf">lobbied against the GAMBIT follow-on called FROG and after a contentious fight effectively killed it</a> in 1971. But most importantly Nixon gave the go-ahead to build the CIA’s KH-11 KEENAN electronic imaging satellite – <em>dooming film-based satellites – and all of Kodak’s satellite business.</em></p> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Why Did Kodak Go to War With Polaroid?</strong></h3> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Finally we can now understand why Kodak was furious at Polaroid. <em><u>The CEO of Polaroid killed Kodak’s satellite reconnaissance business.</u></em></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Kodak’s 1970 annual report said, “Government sales dropped precipitously from $248 million in 1969 to $160 million in 1970, a decline of nearly 36 percent.” (That’s <em>¾’s of a billion dollars</em> in today’s dollars.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The DORIAN camera on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory and the very high-resolution GAMBIT FROG follow-on <em>were all Kodak camera systems</em> built in Kodak’s K-Program, a highly classified segment of the company. In April 1969 when MOL/DORIAN KH-10 was canceled, Kodak laid off 1,500 people from that division.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Kodak also had 1<a href="https://rbj.net/2012/11/23/undercover-covert-photographic-operations-center-existed-at-kodak-plant/">,400 people in a special facility that developed the film</a> codenamed <a href="https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/history/csnr/programs/docs/Bridgehead%20Eastman%20Kodak%20Company.pdf?ver=2019-03-29-1031353-233&timestamp=1553870223588">Bridgehead</a>. With film gone from reconnaissance satellites, only small amounts were needed for U-2 flights. Another 1,000+ people ultimately would be let go.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Louis Eilers had been Kodak president since 1967 and in 1969 became CEO. He had been concerned about Land’s advocacy of the CIA’s programs that shut out Kodak of HEXAGON. But he went ballistic when he learned of the role Edwin Land played in killing the Manned Orbiting Lab (MOL) and the Kodak DORIAN KH-10 camera.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Kodak’s Revenge and Ultimate Loss<br /> </strong>In 1963 when Polaroid launched its first color instant film — Polacolor – Kodak manufactured Polacolor’s film negative. By 1969 Polaroid was paying Kodak $50 million a year to manufacture that film. (~$400 million in today’s dollars.) Kodak tore up that manufacturing relationship in 1969 after the MOL/DORIAN cancelation.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Kodak then went further. In 1969 they started two projects: create their own instant cameras to compete with Polaroid and create instant film for Polaroid cameras – Polaroid made their profits on selling film.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In 1976 Kodak came out with two instant cameras — the EK-4 and EK-6 –and instant film that could be used in Polaroid cameras. Polaroid immediately sued, claiming Kodak had infringed on Polaroid patents. <a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kodak-EK-4.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30842" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/kodak-ek-4/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kodak-EK-4.jpg?fit=680%2C540&ssl=1" data-orig-size="680,540" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Kodak EK-4" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kodak-EK-4.jpg?fit=300%2C238&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kodak-EK-4.jpg?fit=468%2C372&ssl=1" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-30842" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kodak-EK-4.jpg?resize=300%2C238&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="238" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kodak-EK-4.jpg?resize=300%2C238&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kodak-EK-4.jpg?resize=150%2C119&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kodak-EK-4.jpg?w=680&ssl=1 680w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a>The lawsuit went on for 9 years. Finally, in 1985 a court ruled that Kodak infringed on Polaroid patents and Kodak was forced to pull their cameras off store shelves and stop making them. Six years later, in 1991, Polaroid was awarded $925 million in damages from Kodak.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Epilogue<br /> </strong>1976 was a landmark year for both Kodak and Polaroid. It was the beginning of their 15-year patent battle, but it was also the beginning of the end of film photography from space. <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">That December the first digital imaging satellite, KH-11 KEENAN, went into orbit</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">After Land’s forced retirement in 1982, Polaroid never introduced a completely new product again. Everything was a refinement or repackaging of what it had figured out already. By the early ’90s, the alarms were clanging away; bankruptcy came in 2001.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Kodak could never leave its roots in film and missed being a leader in digital photography. It filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, exited legacy businesses and sold off its patents before re-emerging as a sharply smaller company in 2013.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Today, descendants of the KH-11 KENNEN continue to operate in orbit.</p> <hr /> <p><strong>Read all the Secret History posts <a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/#Secret%20History%20Backstory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></strong></p> <iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="91" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1825626108&width=false&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false"></iframe> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Secret%20History%20%E2%80%93%20When%20Kodak%20Went%20to%20War%20with%20Polaroid&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2024%2F05%2F16%2Fsecret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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tag">Corporate/Gov't Innovation</a>, <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/national-security/" rel="category tag">National Security</a>, <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/secret-history-of-silicon-valley/" rel="category tag">Secret History of Silicon Valley</a> | <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/#comments">7 Comments »</a> </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-30767 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-corporate-govt-innovation category-national-security category-secret-history-of-silicon-valley" id="post-30767"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/" rel="bookmark">The Secret History of Polaroid CEO Edwin Land</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">April 30, 2024</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The connections between the world of national security and commercial companies still has surprises.</p> <hr /> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>December 1976 – Vandenberg Air Force Base, U.S. military space port</strong> <strong>on the coast of California</strong></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">As a Titan IIID rocket blasted off, it carried a spacecraft on top that would change everything about how intelligence from space was gathered. Heading to space was the first <em>digital</em> photo reconnaissance satellite. A revolution in spying from space had just begun.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/KH-11-Launch.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30771" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/kh-11-launch/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/KH-11-Launch.jpg?fit=122%2C158&ssl=1" data-orig-size="122,158" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="KH-11 Launch" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/KH-11-Launch.jpg?fit=122%2C158&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/KH-11-Launch.jpg?fit=122%2C158&ssl=1" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-30771" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/KH-11-Launch.jpg?resize=116%2C150&ssl=1" alt="" width="116" height="150" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/KH-11-Launch.jpg?resize=116%2C150&ssl=1 116w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/KH-11-Launch.jpg?w=122&ssl=1 122w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 116px) 100vw, 116px" /></a>For the previous 16 years three generations of U.S. photo reconnaissance satellites (257 in total) took pictures of the Soviet Union on <em>film,</em> then sent the film back to earth on reentry vehicles that were recovered in mid-air. After the film was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_processing">developed</a>, intelligence analysts examined it trying to find and understand the Soviet Union’s latest missiles, aircraft, and ships. By the mid-1970s these photo reconnaissance satellites could see objects as small as a few inches from space. By then, the latest U.S. <em>film</em>-based reconnaissance satellite – Hexagon – was the size of a school bus and had six of these reentry vehicles that could send its film back to earth. Though state of the art for its time, the setup had a drawback: Pictures they returned might be days, weeks or even months old. That meant in a crisis – e.g. the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 or the Arab-Israeli war in 1973 – photo reconnaissance satellites could not provide timely warnings and indications, revealing what an adversary was up to right now. The holy grail for overhead imaging from space was to send the pictures to intelligence analysts on the ground in near real time.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">And now, finally after a decade of work by the CIA’s Science and Technology Division, the first digital photo reconnaissance satellite – the KH-11, code-named KENNEN – which could do all that, was heading to orbit. For the first time pictures from space were going to head back to the ground via bits, showing images in near real time.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The KH-11/ KENNEN project was not a better version of existing film satellites, it was an example of disruptive innovation. Today, we take for granted that billions of cell phones have digital cameras, but in the 1970s getting a computer chip to “see” was science fiction. To do so required a series of technology innovations in digital imaging sensors, and the CIA funded years of sensor research at multiple research centers and companies. That allowed them to build the KH-11 sensor (first with a silicon diode array, and then the using first linear CCD arrays), which turned the images seen by the satellites’ powerful telescope into bits.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Getting those bits to the ground no longer required reentry vehicles carrying film, but it did require the launch of a network of relay satellites (code named <a href="https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3440/1">QUASAR (aka SDS, Satellite Data System</a>). While the KH-11 was taking pictures over the Soviet Union, the images were passed as bits from satellite to satellite at the speed of light, then downlinked to a ground station in the U.S. New ground stations were built to handle a large, fast stream of digital data. And the photo analysts required new equipment.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">More importantly, like most projects that disrupt the status quo, it required a technical visionary who understood how the pieces would create a radically new system, and a champion with immense credibility in imaging and national security who could save the project each time the incumbents tried to kill it — even convincing the President of the United States to reverse its cancelation.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">More detail in a bit. But let’s fast forward, four months later, to a seemingly unrelated story…</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>April 1977 – Needham, MA, Polaroid Annual Meeting<br /> </strong>Edwin Land, the 67-year-old founder/CEO/chairman and director of research of <a href="https://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/polaroid/timeline/">Polaroid</a>, the company that had been shipping instant cameras for 30 years, stood on stage and launched his own holy grail – and his last hurrah – an instant <em>film</em>-based home-movie camera called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDkBx4fvY4w">Polavision</a>. At the time, you sent your home movie film out to get developed and you’d be able to view it in days or a week. Land was demoing an instant movie. You filmed a movie and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpH8jIVgxwg">90 seconds later you could see it</a>. It was a technical tour de force – remember this was pre-digital, so the ability to instantly develop and show a movie seemed like magic. Much like the KH-11/KEENAN it also was a complete system – camera, instant film, and player. It truly was the pinnacle of analog engineering.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30776" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/polavision-ad-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?fit=1810%2C1241&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1810,1241" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Polavision ad" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?fit=300%2C206&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?fit=468%2C321&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-30776" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?resize=468%2C321&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="321" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?w=1810&ssl=1 1810w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?resize=300%2C206&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?resize=1024%2C702&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?resize=150%2C103&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?resize=768%2C527&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?resize=1536%2C1053&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Polavision-ad.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a>But <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDkBx4fvY4w">Polavision</a> was a commercial disaster. Potential customers found it uncompelling and its $3,500 price (in today’s dollars) daunting. You could only record up to 2½ minutes of film. And believe it or not, with Polavision you couldn’t record sound with the movies. The 8mm film couldn’t be played back on existing 8mm projectors and could only be viewed on a special player with a 12” projection screen. There was no way to edit the film. It was a closed system. Worse, two years earlier Sony had introduced the first Betamax VCR and JVC had just introduced VHS recorders that could hold hours of video that could be edited. The video recorders looked like a better bet on the future. Polaroid discontinued Polavision two years later in 1979.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">For decades Land’s unerring instincts for instant products delighted customers. However, Polavision was the second misstep for Land. In 1972 at Land’s insistence, Polaroid had prematurely announced the SX-70 camera – another technical tour de force – before it could scale manufacturing. In 1975 the board helped Land “decide” to step down as president and chief operating officer to let other execs handle manufacturing and scale.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">But the biggest threat to Polaroid came in 1976, a year before the Polavision announcement, when Kodak entered Polaroid’s instant camera and film business with competitive products.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30778" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/sx-70-ad-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?fit=927%2C1280&ssl=1" data-orig-size="927,1280" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1291306072","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="SX-70 ad" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?fit=217%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?fit=468%2C646&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30778 size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?resize=217%2C300&ssl=1" alt="" width="217" height="300" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?resize=217%2C300&ssl=1 217w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?resize=742%2C1024&ssl=1 742w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?resize=109%2C150&ssl=1 109w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?resize=768%2C1060&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SX-70-ad.jpg?w=927&ssl=1 927w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">After the Polavision debacle, Land was sidelined by the board, which no longer had faith in his technical and market vision. Land gave up the title of chairman in 1980. He resigned his board seat in 1982, and in 1985, bitter he had been forced out of the company he founded, he sold all his remaining stock, cutting all ties with the company.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Steve Jobs considered Land one of his first heroes, calling him “a national treasure.” (Take a look at part of <a href="https://youtu.be/zbmq9R0dtVg?feature=shared&t=780">a 1970 talk by Land</a> eerily describing something that sounds like an iPhone.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Meanwhile, inside Polaroid Labs, work had begun on two new technologies Land had sponsored: inkjet printing and something called “filmless electronic photography.” Neither project got out the door because the new management was concerned about cannibalizing Polaroid’s film business. Instead they doubled down on selling and refining instant film. Polaroid’s first digital camera wouldn’t hit the market till 1996, by which time the battle had been lost.<strong> </strong></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>What on earth do these two stories have to do with each other?<br /> </strong>It turns out that the person who had consulted on every one of the film-based photo reconnaissance satellites – Corona, Gambit, and Hexagon – was also the U.S. government’s most esteemed expert on imaging and spy satellites. He was the same person who championed replacing the film-based photo satellites with digital imaging. And was the visionary who pushed the CIA forward on KH-11/KEENAN. By 1977, this person knew more about the <em>application of</em> <em>digital</em> imaging then anyone on the planet.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Who was that?</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>It was Edwin Land, the Founder/Chairman of Polaroid – </em>the same guy that introduced the film-based Polavision.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">More in the next installment <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/05/16/secret-history-when-kodak-went-to-war-with-polaroid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p> <p><strong>Read all the Secret History posts <a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/#Secret%20History%20Backstory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></strong></p> <hr /> <p><strong>Read all the Secret History posts <a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/#Secret%20History%20Backstory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></strong></p> <iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="91" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1825193580&width=false&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false"></iframe> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Polaroid%20CEO%20Edwin%20Land&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2024%2F04%2F30%2Fthe-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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data-title="The Secret History of Polaroid CEO Edwin Land" data-content="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/" title="Share on Tumblr"data-posttype="link">Share on Tumblr</a></li><li class="share-pocket"><div class="pocket_button"><a href="https://getpocket.com/save" class="pocket-btn" data-lang="en" data-save-url="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/" data-pocket-count="horizontal" >Pocket</a></div></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div><div class='sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded' id='like-post-wrapper-6599589-30767-6746bc6ff0a38' data-src='https://widgets.wp.com/likes/?ver=14.1-a.7#blog_id=6599589&post_id=30767&origin=steveblank.com&obj_id=6599589-30767-6746bc6ff0a38&n=1' data-name='like-post-frame-6599589-30767-6746bc6ff0a38' data-title='Like or Reblog'><h3 class="sd-title">Like this:</h3><div class='likes-widget-placeholder post-likes-widget-placeholder' style='height: 55px;'><span class='button'><span>Like</span></span> <span class="loading">Loading...</span></div><span class='sd-text-color'></span><a class='sd-link-color'></a></div> <p class="postinfo"> Filed under: <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/corporate-govt-innovation/" rel="category tag">Corporate/Gov't Innovation</a>, <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/national-security/" rel="category tag">National Security</a>, <a href="https://steveblank.com/category/secret-history-of-silicon-valley/" rel="category tag">Secret History of Silicon Valley</a> | <a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/04/30/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-the-secret-life-of-polaroid-ceo-edwin-land-part-1/#comments">6 Comments »</a> </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-30431 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-corporate-govt-innovation category-gordian-knot-center-for-national-security-innovation category-national-security category-technology-innovation-and-modern-war" id="post-30431"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/" rel="bookmark">Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition – 2023 Wrap Up</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">February 6, 2024</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p style="font-weight: 400;">We just wrapped up the third year of our <a href="https://tigpc23.sites.stanford.edu/">Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition</a> class –part of Stanford’s <a href="https://gordianknot.stanford.edu/">Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography/article/1306061/dr-joseph-h-felter/">Joe Felter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelabrownceo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Brown</a> and I teach the class to:</p> <ul> <li>Give our students an appreciation of the challenges and opportunities for the United States in its enduring strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China, Russia and other rivals.</li> <li>Offer insights on how commercial technology (AI, autonomy, cyber, quantum, semiconductors, access to space, biotech, hypersonics, and others) are radically changing how we will compete across all the elements of national power e.g. diplomatic, informational, military, economic, financial, intelligence and law enforcement (our influence and footprint on the world stage).</li> <li>Expose students to experiential learning on policy questions. Students formed teams, got out of the classroom and talked to the stakeholders and developed policy recommendations.</li> </ul> <hr /> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Why This Class?</strong><br /> The recognition that the United States is engaged in long-term strategic competition with the Peoples Republic of China and Russia became a centerpiece of the <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf">2017 National Security Strategy</a> and<a href="https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.pdf"> 2018 National Defense Strategy</a>. The 2021<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NSC-1v2.pdf"> interim National Security Guidance</a> and the administration’s recently released <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Biden-Harris-Administrations-National-Security-Strategy-10.2022.pdf">2022 National Security Strategy</a> make clear that China has rapidly become more assertive and is the only competitor potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system<strong>. </strong>And as we’ve seen in Ukraine, Russia remains determined to wage a brutal war to play a disruptive role on the world stage.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Prevailing in this competition will require more than merely acquiring the fruits of this technological revolution; it will require a paradigm shift in the thinking of how this technology can be rapidly integrated into new capabilities and platforms to drive new operational and organizational concepts and strategies that change and optimize the way we compete.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Class Organization<br /> </strong>The readings, lectures, and guest speakers explored how emerging <em>commercial </em>technologies pose challenges and create opportunities for the United States in its strategic competition with great power rivals with an emphasis on the People’s Republic of China. We focused on the challenges created when U.S. government agencies, our federal research labs, and government contractors no longer have exclusive access to these advanced technologies.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">This course included all that you would expect from a Stanford graduate-level class in the <a href="https://fsi.stanford.edu/masters-degree">Masters in International Policy</a> – comprehensive readings, guest lectures from current and former senior officials/experts, and written papers. What makes the class unique however, is that <em>this is an <u>experiential </u>policy class</em>. Students formed small teams and embarked on a quarter-long project that got them out of the classroom to:</p> <ul> <li>identify a priority national security challenge, and then …</li> <li>validate the problem and propose a detailed solution tested against actual stakeholders in the technology and national security ecosystem.</li> </ul> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The class was split into three parts.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Part 1, weeks 1 through 4 covered the international relations theories that attempt to explain the dynamics of interstate competition between powerful states, U.S. national security and national defense strategies and policies guiding our approach to Great Power Competition specifically focused on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In between parts 1 and 2 of the class, the students had a midterm individual project. It required them to write a 2,000-word policy memo describing how a U.S. competitor is using a specific technology to counter U.S. interests and a proposal for how the U.S. should respond.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Part 2, weeks 5 through 8, dove into the commercial technologies: semiconductors, space, cyber, AI and Machine Learning, High Performance Computing, and Biotech. Each week the students had to read 5-10 articles (see class readings <u><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mbNAg1YfbpgX7pM2cJOwMbf_gBB3UcyV/view?usp=sharing">here.)</a></u> And each week we had guest speakers on great power competition, and technology and its impact on national power and lectures/class discussion.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Guest Speakers<br /> </em>In addition to the teaching team, the course drew on the experience and expertise of guest lecturers from industry and from across U.S. Government agencies to provide context and perspective on <em>commercial </em>technologies and national security.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mattis-2023-TIGPC.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30491" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/mattis-2023-tigpc/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mattis-2023-TIGPC.jpg?fit=210%2C158&ssl=1" data-orig-size="210,158" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Mattis 2023 TIGPC" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mattis-2023-TIGPC.jpg?fit=210%2C158&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mattis-2023-TIGPC.jpg?fit=210%2C158&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30491" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mattis-2023-TIGPC.jpg?resize=177%2C133&ssl=1" alt="" width="177" height="133" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mattis-2023-TIGPC.jpg?w=210&ssl=1 210w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mattis-2023-TIGPC.jpg?resize=150%2C113&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 177px) 100vw, 177px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The students were privileged to hear from extraordinary guest speakers with significant experience and credibility on a range of topics related to the course objectives. Highlights of this year’s speakers include:</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">On National Security and American exceptionalism: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Mattis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">General Jim Mattis</a>, US Marine Corps (<em>Ret</em>.), former Secretary of Defense.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-3.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30487" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/2023-tigpc-guest-photos-3/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-3.jpg?fit=357%2C149&ssl=1" data-orig-size="357,149" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="2023 TIGPC guest photos 3" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-3.jpg?fit=300%2C125&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-3.jpg?fit=357%2C149&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-30487" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-3.jpg?resize=304%2C127&ssl=1" alt="" width="304" height="127" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-3.jpg?w=357&ssl=1 357w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-3.jpg?resize=300%2C125&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-3.jpg?resize=150%2C63&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 304px) 100vw, 304px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">On China’s activities and efforts to compete with the U.S.: Matt Pottinger – former Deputy National Security Advisor, Elizabeth Economy – leading China scholar and former Dept of Commerce Senior Advisor for China, Tai Ming Cheung, – Author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Innovate-Dominate-Chinese-Techno-Security-State-ebook/dp/B09HW59LDC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Innovate to Dominate</a>: The Rise of the Chinese Techno-Security State.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-1.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30483" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/2023-tigpc-guest-photos-1/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-1.jpg?fit=468%2C146&ssl=1" data-orig-size="468,146" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="2023 TIGPC guest photos 1" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-1.jpg?fit=300%2C94&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-1.jpg?fit=468%2C146&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-30483" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-1.jpg?resize=468%2C146&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="146" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-1.jpg?w=468&ssl=1 468w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-1.jpg?resize=300%2C94&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-1.jpg?resize=150%2C47&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a>On U.S. – China Policy: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Gallagher_(American_politician)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congressman Mike Gallagher</a>, Chair House Select Committe on China.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">On Innovation and National Security: Chris Brose – Author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Chain-Defending-America-High-Tech/dp/031653367X/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Kill Chain</a>, Doug Beck – Director of the <a href="https://www.diu.mil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defense Innovation Unit</a>, Anja Manuel – Executive Director of the <a href="https://www.aspensecurityforum.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aspen Strategy and Security Forum</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">For Biotech: Ben Kirukup – senior biologist US Navy, Ed You – FBI Special Agent Biological Countermeasures Unit, Deborah Rosenblum – Asst Sec of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs, Joe DeSimone – Professor Chemical Engineering.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-4.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30488" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/2023-tigpc-guest-photos-4/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-4.jpg?fit=468%2C150&ssl=1" data-orig-size="468,150" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="2023 TIGPC guest photos 4" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-4.jpg?fit=300%2C96&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-4.jpg?fit=468%2C150&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-30488" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-4.jpg?resize=418%2C134&ssl=1" alt="" width="418" height="134" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-4.jpg?w=468&ssl=1 468w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-4.jpg?resize=300%2C96&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-4.jpg?resize=150%2C48&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">For AI: Jared Dunnmon – Technical Director for AI at the Defense Innovation Unit, Lt. Gen. (Ret) Jack Shanahan – Director, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, Anshu Roy- CEO Rhombus AI</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-2.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30485" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/2023-tigpc-guest-photos-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-2.jpg?fit=458%2C109&ssl=1" data-orig-size="458,109" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="2023 TIGPC guest photos 2" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-2.jpg?fit=300%2C71&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-2.jpg?fit=458%2C109&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-30485" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-2.jpg?resize=458%2C109&ssl=1" alt="" width="458" height="109" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-2.jpg?w=458&ssl=1 458w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-2.jpg?resize=300%2C71&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-TIGPC-guest-photos-2.jpg?resize=150%2C36&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 458px) 100vw, 458px" /></a>For Cyber: Anne Neuberger – deputy national security advisor for cyber</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">For Semiconductors: Larry Diamond – Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Significantly, the students were able to hear the Chinese perspective on U.S. – China competition from <a href="https://en.igcu.pku.edu.cn/info/1021/1028.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Jia Qingguo</a> – Member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of China.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The class closed with a stirring talk and call to action by former National Security Advisor LTG ret <a href="https://www.hoover.org/profiles/h-r-mcmaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">H.R. McMaster</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In the weeks in-between we had teaching team lectures followed by speakers that led discussions on the critical commercial technologies.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Team-based Experiential Project</em><br /> The third part of the class was unique – a quarter-long, team-based project. Students formed teams of 4-6 and selected a national security challenge facing an organization or agency within the U.S. Government. They developed hypotheses of how commercial technologies can be used in new and creative ways to help the U.S. wield its instruments of national power. And consistent with all our <a href="https://gordianknot.stanford.edu/">Gordian Knot Center</a> classes, <em>they got out of the classroom. </em>and interviewed 20+ beneficiaries, policy makers, and other key stakeholders testing their hypotheses and proposed solutions.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Hacking For Policy – Final Presentations</em>:<br /> At the end of the quarter, each student teams’ policy recommendations were summarized in a 10-minute presentation. The presentation was the story of the team’s learning journey, describing where they started, where they ended, and the key inflection points in their understanding of the problem. (A written 3000 word report followed focusing on their recommendations for addressing their chosen security challenge and describing how their solutions can be implemented with speed and urgency.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">By the end of the class all the teams realized that the policy problem they had selected had morphed into something bigger, deeper, and much more interesting.</p> <p>Their policy presentations are below.</p> <p>The class is as exhausting to teach as it to take. We have an awesome set of teaching assistants.</p> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Team 1: Precision Match (AI for DoD Operations)</strong></h3> <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uN2vrjNOJZJgBelNAlcygSP2OOCwrMK5/view?usp=share_link"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30500" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/precision-match-redacted-cover/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?fit=1421%2C789&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1421,789" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Precision Match redacted cover" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?fit=300%2C167&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?fit=468%2C260&ssl=1" class="alignnone wp-image-30500 size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?resize=300%2C167&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="167" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?resize=300%2C167&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?resize=1024%2C569&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?resize=150%2C83&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?resize=768%2C426&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?w=1421&ssl=1 1421w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Precision-Match-redacted-cover.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p>Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uN2vrjNOJZJgBelNAlcygSP2OOCwrMK5/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the presentation.</p> <p>What makes teaching worthwhile is the feedback we get from our students<span style="font-weight: 400;">:</span></p> <blockquote> <p style="font-weight: 400;">TIGPC has been the best class I’ve taken at Stanford and has caused me to do some reflection in what I want to do after my time at Stanford. I’m only a sophomore but doing such a deep dive into energy and (as Steve says) getting out of the building, I’m starting to seriously consider a career in clean energy security post graduation.</p> </blockquote> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Team 2: Outbound Investment to China</strong></h3> <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_DRgR2942-OhMTtehxGzF3PN9ZMl-GoV/view?usp=share_link"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30450" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/3-regulating-outbound-investment-to-china-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-Regulating-Outbound-Investment-to-China-1.jpg?fit=720%2C405&ssl=1" data-orig-size="720,405" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="3 – Regulating Outbound Investment to China" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-Regulating-Outbound-Investment-to-China-1.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-Regulating-Outbound-Investment-to-China-1.jpg?fit=468%2C263&ssl=1" class="alignnone wp-image-30450 size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-Regulating-Outbound-Investment-to-China-1.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-Regulating-Outbound-Investment-to-China-1.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-Regulating-Outbound-Investment-to-China-1.jpg?resize=150%2C84&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3-Regulating-Outbound-Investment-to-China-1.jpg?w=720&ssl=1 720w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_DRgR2942-OhMTtehxGzF3PN9ZMl-GoV/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the presentation.</p> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Team 3: Open-Source AI</strong></h3> <p><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19iZvQArKQSf4uWv6VFc_xInpLUreClihqCIATxwNKqk/edit#heading=h.ho4uwsy7v9j9"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30437" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/1-weaponizing-open-source-ai/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?fit=2666%2C1500&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2666,1500" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="1 – Weaponizing Open Source AI" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?fit=468%2C263&ssl=1" class="alignnone wp-image-30437" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?resize=150%2C84&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1152&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-Weaponizing-Open-Source-AI.jpeg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p>Click <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19iZvQArKQSf4uWv6VFc_xInpLUreClihqCIATxwNKqk/edit#heading=h.ho4uwsy7v9j9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see a summary of the presentation.</p> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Team 4: AlphaChem</strong></h3> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rQ0Xir-fZEyweeXFeydj1SL0VVYscTTG/view?usp=share_link"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30449" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/8-empowering-ukraine/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?fit=1370%2C753&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1370,753" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="8 – Empowering Ukraine" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?fit=300%2C165&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?fit=468%2C257&ssl=1" class="alignnone wp-image-30449" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?resize=300%2C165&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="165" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?resize=300%2C165&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?resize=1024%2C563&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?resize=150%2C82&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?resize=768%2C422&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?w=1370&ssl=1 1370w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/8-Empowering-Ukraine.jpeg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rQ0Xir-fZEyweeXFeydj1SL0VVYscTTG/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the presentation.</p> <blockquote> <p style="font-weight: 400;">One of my takeaways from the class is that you can be the smartest person in the room, but you will never have as much knowledge as everyone else combined so go talk to people, it will make you far smarter</p> </blockquote> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Team 5: South China Sea</strong></h3> <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12hUfLhl9u8eLO1LjMJTF9JlFNjufWUqM/view?usp=share_link"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30448" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/7-public-private-partnerships/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7-Public-Private-Partnerships.jpg?fit=703%2C357&ssl=1" data-orig-size="703,357" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="7 – Public Private Partnerships" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7-Public-Private-Partnerships.jpg?fit=300%2C152&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7-Public-Private-Partnerships.jpg?fit=468%2C238&ssl=1" class="alignnone wp-image-30448 size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7-Public-Private-Partnerships.jpg?resize=300%2C152&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="152" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7-Public-Private-Partnerships.jpg?resize=300%2C152&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7-Public-Private-Partnerships.jpg?resize=150%2C76&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/7-Public-Private-Partnerships.jpg?w=703&ssl=1 703w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p>Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12hUfLhl9u8eLO1LjMJTF9JlFNjufWUqM/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the presentation.</p> <blockquote><p>Awesome class! … incredible in bringing prestigious guest speakers into the class and having engaging discussions. My background was not in national security and this class really offered an important perspective on the opportunities for technology innovation to impact and help with national security.</p></blockquote> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Team 6: Chinese Real Estate Investment in the U.S.</strong></h3> <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iF5xFL9R14ZUCll5g9cc7TzjL3CiDmG5/view?usp=share_link"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30502" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/team-6-redacted-cover/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Team-6-redacted-cover.jpg?fit=714%2C403&ssl=1" data-orig-size="714,403" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Team 6 redacted cover" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Team-6-redacted-cover.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Team-6-redacted-cover.jpg?fit=468%2C264&ssl=1" class="alignnone wp-image-30502 size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Team-6-redacted-cover.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Team-6-redacted-cover.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Team-6-redacted-cover.jpg?resize=150%2C85&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Team-6-redacted-cover.jpg?w=714&ssl=1 714w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iF5xFL9R14ZUCll5g9cc7TzjL3CiDmG5/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the presentation.</p> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Team 7: Public Private Partnerships</strong></h3> <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g2aZXBvHsV7oSOzuhKz1Zoz2-iz3XvL2/view?usp=share_link"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30504" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/cover-public-private-partnerships-redacted/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Public-Private-Partnerships-redacted.jpg?fit=715%2C402&ssl=1" data-orig-size="715,402" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="cover Public Private Partnerships redacted" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Public-Private-Partnerships-redacted.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Public-Private-Partnerships-redacted.jpg?fit=468%2C263&ssl=1" class="alignnone wp-image-30504 size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Public-Private-Partnerships-redacted.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Public-Private-Partnerships-redacted.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Public-Private-Partnerships-redacted.jpg?resize=150%2C84&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Public-Private-Partnerships-redacted.jpg?w=715&ssl=1 715w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p>Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g2aZXBvHsV7oSOzuhKz1Zoz2-iz3XvL2/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the presentation.</p> <blockquote><p>Just wanted to let you know that, as a Senior, this is one of the best classes I’ve taken across my 4 years at Stanford.</p></blockquote> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Team 8: Ukraine Aid</strong></h3> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/140NN9h0W9NmuRG4s-ZRnsKsDRDZbfhky/view?usp=sharing"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30506" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/02/06/technology-innovation-and-great-power-competition-2023-wrap-up/cover-empowering-ukraine/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?fit=1440%2C810&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1440,810" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="cover – Empowering Ukraine" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?fit=468%2C263&ssl=1" class="alignnone wp-image-30506 size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?resize=150%2C84&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?w=1440&ssl=1 1440w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cover-Empowering-Ukraine.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></h3> <p>Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/140NN9h0W9NmuRG4s-ZRnsKsDRDZbfhky/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the presentation.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Lessons Learned</strong></p> <blockquote> <ul> <li>We combined lecture and experiential learning so our students can act on problems not just admire them <ul> <li>The external input the students received was a force multiplier</li> <li>It made the lecture material real, tangible and actionable</li> <li>Lean problem solving methods can be effectively employed to address pressing national security and policy challenges</li> <li>This course was akin to a “Hacking for Policy class” and can be tweaked and replicated going forward.</li> </ul> </li> <li>The class created opportunities for our best and brightest to engage and address challenges at the nexus of technology, innovation and national security <ul> <li>When students are provided such opportunities they aggressively seize them with impressive results</li> <li>The final presentations and papers from the class are proof that will happen</li> </ul> </li> <li>Pushing students past what they think is reasonable results in extraordinary output. 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»</a> </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-30379 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-corporate-govt-innovation category-national-security" id="post-30379"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2024/01/15/the-department-of-defense-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together/" rel="bookmark">The Department of Defense Is Getting Its Innovation Act Together – But More Can Be Done</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">January 15, 2024</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30410" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/01/15/the-department-of-defense-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together/defense-news-logo-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?fit=1823%2C284&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1823,284" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="defense news logo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?fit=300%2C47&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?fit=468%2C73&ssl=1" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-30410" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?resize=150%2C23&ssl=1" alt="" width="150" height="23" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?resize=150%2C23&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?resize=300%2C47&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?resize=1024%2C160&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?resize=768%2C120&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?resize=1536%2C239&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?w=1823&ssl=1 1823w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/defense-news-logo.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a><a href="https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2024/01/05/the-dod-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together-but-more-can-be-done/"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30462" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/01/15/the-department-of-defense-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together/c4isrnet-logo-white-png-copy/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c4isrnet-logo-white.png-copy.jpg?fit=952%2C151&ssl=1" data-orig-size="952,151" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="c4isrnet-logo-white.png copy" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c4isrnet-logo-white.png-copy.jpg?fit=300%2C48&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c4isrnet-logo-white.png-copy.jpg?fit=468%2C74&ssl=1" class="alignleft wp-image-30462 size-thumbnail" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c4isrnet-logo-white.png-copy.jpg?resize=150%2C24&ssl=1" alt="" width="150" height="24" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c4isrnet-logo-white.png-copy.jpg?resize=150%2C24&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c4isrnet-logo-white.png-copy.jpg?resize=300%2C48&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c4isrnet-logo-white.png-copy.jpg?resize=768%2C122&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c4isrnet-logo-white.png-copy.jpg?w=952&ssl=1 952w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a>This post previously appeared <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/2024/01/05/the-dod-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together-but-more-can-be-done/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in Defense News </a> and <a href="https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2024/01/05/the-dod-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together-but-more-can-be-done/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">C4SIR</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Despite the clear and present danger of threats from China and elsewhere, there’s no agreement on what types of adversaries we’ll face; how we’ll fight, organize, and train; and what weapons or systems we’ll need for future fights. Instead, developing a new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_doctrine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doctrine</a> to deal with these new issues is fraught with disagreements, differing objectives, and incumbents who defend the status quo. Yet change in military doctrine is coming. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks is navigating the tightrope of competing interests to make it happen – hopefully in time.</p> <div id="attachment_30427" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30427" data-attachment-id="30427" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2024/01/15/the-department-of-defense-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together/diu-beck/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1024,682" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="DIU Beck" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>From left, Skydio CEO Adam Bry demonstrates the company’s autonomous systems technology for Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Doug Beck, director of the Defense Innovation Unit, during a visit to the company’s facility in San Mateo, Calif. (Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza/U.S. Navy)</p> " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?fit=468%2C312&ssl=1" class="size-full wp-image-30427" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?resize=468%2C312&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="312" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?resize=150%2C100&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DIU-Beck.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-30427" class="wp-caption-text">From left, Skydio CEO Adam Bry demonstrates the company’s autonomous systems technology for Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Doug Beck, director of the Defense Innovation Unit, during a visit to the company’s facility in San Mateo, Calif. (Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza/U.S. Navy)</p></div> <hr /> <p style="font-weight: 400;">There are several theories of how innovation in military doctrine and new operational concepts occur. Some argue new doctrine emerges when <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Victory-Potomac-Goldwater-Nichols-Williams-Ford-University/dp/1585443980" target="_blank" rel="noopener">civilians intervene</a> to assist military “mavericks,” e.g., the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater%E2%80%93Nichols_Act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goldwater-Nichols Act</a>. Or a military service can <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2538898" target="_blank" rel="noopener">generate innovation internally</a> when senior military officers recognize the doctrinal and operational implications of new capabilities, e.g., Rickover and the Nuclear Navy.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">But today, innovation in doctrine and concepts is driven by four major <em>external </em>upheavals that simultaneously threaten our military and economic advantage:</p> <ol> <li>China delivering multiple asymmetric offset strategies.</li> <li>China fielding naval, space and air assets in unprecedented numbers.</li> <li>The proven value of a massive number of attritable uncrewed systems on the Ukrainian battlefield.</li> <li>Rapid technological change in artificial intelligence, autonomy, cyber, space, biotechnology, semiconductors, hypersonics, etc, with many driven by commercial companies in the U.S. and China.</li> </ol> <p><strong>The Need for Change<br /> </strong>The U.S. Department of Defense traditional sources of innovation (<a href="https://people.defensenews.com/top-100/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">primes</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federally_funded_research_and_development_centers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FFRDCs</a>, <a href="https://nps.edu/web/slamr/-/dod-labs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">service labs</a>) are no longer sufficient by themselves to keep pace.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The speed, depth and breadth of these disruptive changes happen faster than the responsiveness and agility of our current acquisition systems and defense-industrial base. However, in the decade since these external threats emerged, the DoD’s <a href="https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/Doctrine/pubs/status.pdf?ver=FxBiEj22AmEOkmorJzsDHg%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doctrine</a>, organization, culture, process, and tolerance for risk mostly operated as though nothing substantial needed to change.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The result is that the DoD has world-class people and organizations for a world that no longer exists.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">It isn’t that the DoD doesn’t know how to innovate on the battlefield. In Iraq and Afghanistan innovative crisis-driven organizations appeared, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Improvised-Threat_Defeat_Organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency</a> and the Army’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_Equipping_Force" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rapid Equipping Force</a>. And armed services have bypassed their own bureaucracy by creating rapid capabilities offices. Even today, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_Security_Assistance_Initiative" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Security Assistance Group-Ukraine</a> rapidly delivers weapons.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Unfortunately, these efforts are siloed and ephemeral, disappearing when the immediate crisis is over. They rarely make permanent change at the DoD.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Bu in the past year several signs of meaningful change show that the DoD is serious about changing how it operates and radically overhauling its doctrine, concepts, and weapons.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">First, the <a href="https://www.diu.mil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defense Innovation Unit</a> was elevated to report to the of defense secretary. Previously hobbled with a $35 million budget and buried inside the research and engineering organization, its budget and reporting structure were signs of how little the DoD viewed the importance of commercial innovation.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Now, with DIU rescued from obscurity, its new director <a href="https://www.diu.mil/team/doug-beck" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Doug Beck</a> chairs the Deputy’s Innovation Steering Group, which oversees defense efforts to rapidly field high-tech capabilities to address urgent operational problems. DIU also put staff in the Navy and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to discover actual urgent needs.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Furthermore, the House Appropriations Committee signaled the importance of DIU with a proposed a fiscal 2024 budget of $1 billion to fund these efforts. And the Navy has signaled, through the creation of the <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2023/09/navy-stands-up-disruptive-capabilities-office/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disruptive Capabilities Office</a>, that it intends to fully participate with DIU.</p> <p>In addition, Deputy Defense Secretary Hicks unveiled <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2023/12/19/replicator-an-inside-look-at-the-pentagons-ambitious-drone-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Replicator initiative</a>, meant to deploy thousands of attritable autonomous systems (i.e. drones – in the air, water and undersea) <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2023/08/28/pentagon-unveils-replicator-drone-program-to-compete-with-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">within the next 18 to 24 months</a>. The initiative is the first test of the Deputy’s Innovation Steering Group’s ability to deliver autonomous systems to warfighters at speed and scale while breaking down organizational barriers. DIU will work with new companies to address <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-access/area_denial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-access/area denial problems</a>.</p> <p>Replicator is a harbinger of fundamental DoD doctrinal changes as well as a solid signal to the defense-industrial base that the DoD is serious about procuring components faster, cheaper and with a shorter shelf life.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, at the recent <a href="https://www.reaganfoundation.org/media/361808/2023_rndf_agenda_final.pdf">Reagan National Defense Forum, </a>the world felt like it turned upside down. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin talked about DIU in his keynote address and came to Reagan immediately following a visit to its headquarters in Silicon Valley, where he met with innovative companies. On many panels, high-ranking officers and senior defense officials used the words “disruption,” “innovation,” “speed” and “urgency” so many times, signaling they really meant it and wanted it.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In the audience were a plethora of venture and private capital fund leaders looking for ways to build companies that would deliver innovative capabilities with speed.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Conspicuously, unlike in previous years, sponsor banners at the conference were not the incumbent prime contractors but rather insurgents – new potential primes like Palantir and Anduril. The DoD has woken up. It has realized new and escalating threats require rapid change, or we may not prevail in the next conflict.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Change is hard, especially in military doctrine. (<a href="https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Portals/142/Docs/CMC38%20Force%20Design%202030%20Report%20Phase%20I%20and%20II.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ask the Marines</a>.) Incumbent suppliers don’t go quietly into the night, and new suppliers almost always underestimate the difficulty and complexity of a task. Existing organizations defend their budget, headcount, and authority. Organization saboteurs resist change. But adversaries don’t wait for our decades-out plans.</p> <p><strong>But More Can Be Done</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Congress and the military services can support change by fully funding the Replicator initiative and the Defense Innovation Unit.</li> <li>The services have no procurement budget for Replicator, and they’ll have to shift existing funds to unmanned and AI programs.</li> <li>The DoD should turn its new innovation process into actual, substantive orders for new companies.</li> <li>And other combatant commands should follow what INDOPACOM is doing.</li> <li>In addition, defense primes should more often aggressively partner with startups.</li> </ul> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Change is in the air. Deputy Defense Secretary Hicks is building a coalition of the willing to get it done.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s to hoping it happens in time.</p> <iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="91" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1719697821&width=false&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false"></iframe> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2024/01/15/the-department-of-defense-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20The%20Department%20of%20Defense%20Is%20Getting%20Its%20Innovation%20Act%20Together%20-%20But%20More%20Can%20Be%20Done&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2024%2F01%2F15%2Fthe-department-of-defense-is-getting-its-innovation-act-together%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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See the <a href="http://steveblank.com/secret-history/">Secret History bibliography</a> for sources and supplemental reading.</p> <hr /> <div id="attachment_2394" style="width: 196px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2394" data-attachment-id="2394" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2009/06/22/2392/hp-letter/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?fit=2012%2C2210&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2012,2210" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"","camera":"Canon EOS 40D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1245094324","copyright":"","focal_length":"56","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":""}" data-image-title="HP Letter" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?fit=273%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?fit=468%2C514&ssl=1" class="wp-image-2394" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hp-letter.jpg?resize=186%2C204&ssl=1" alt="" width="186" height="204" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-2394" class="wp-caption-text">No Knowledge of Computers</p></div> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Silicon Valley emerged from work in World War II led by Stanford professor Fred Terman developing microwave and electronics for Electronic Warfare systems. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, spurred on by Terman, Silicon Valley was selling microwave components and systems to the Defense Department, and the first fledging chip companies (Shockley, Fairchild, National, Rheem, Signetics…) were in their infancy. <em>But there were no computer companies</em>. Silicon Valley wouldn’t have a computer company until 1966 when Hewlett Packard shipped the <a href="https://computerhistory.org/blog/50th-anniversary-of-the-hp-2116-minicomputer/">HP 2116 minicomputer</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Meanwhile the biggest and fastest <em>scientific</em> computer companies were in Minnesota. And by 1966 they had been delivering computers for 16 years.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Minneapolis/St. Paul area companies ERA, Control Data and Cray would dominate the world of scientific computing and be an innovation cluster for computing until the mid-1980s. And then they were gone.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Why?</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Just as Silicon Valley’s roots can be traced to innovation in World War II so can Minneapolis/St. Paul’s. The story starts with a company you probably never heard of – Engineering Research Associates.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>It Started With Code Breaking<br /> </strong>For thousands of years, every nation has tried to keep its diplomatic and military communications secret. They do that by <a href="https://cloud.google.com/learn/what-is-encryption" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encrypting</a> (protecting the information by using a cipher/code) to scramble the messages. Other nations try to read those messages by attempting to break those codes.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">During the 1930s the U.S. Army and Navy each had their own small code breaking groups. The Navy’s was called CSAW (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OP-20-G" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Communications Supplemental Activity Washington</a>) also known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OP-20-G">OPS-20-G</a>. The Army codebreaking group was the <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/History/Cryptologic-History/Historical-Events/Article-View/Article/2740643/signal-intelligence-service/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Signal Intelligence Service</a> (SIS) at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_Hall">Arlington Hall</a><u>.</u></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The Army focused on decrypting (breaking/decoding) Japan’s diplomatic and Army codes while the Navy worked on breaking Japan’s Naval codes. This was not a harmonious arrangement. The competition between the Army and Navy code breaking groups was so contentious <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jun/29/2002751422/-1/-1/0/ORIGINS_OF_NSA.PDF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that in 1940 they agreed</a> that the Army would decode and translate Japanese diplomatic code on the even days of the month and the Navy would decode and translate the messages on the odd days of the month. This arrangement lasted until Dec. 7, 1941.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">At the start of WWII the Army and Navy code breaking groups each had few hundred people mainly focused on breaking Japanese codes. By the end of WWII, with the U.S. now fighting Germany, and the Soviet Union looming as a potential adversary U.S. code breaking would grow to 20,000 people working on breaking the codes of Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The two groups would merge in 1949 as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency#:~:text=History-,Formation,known%20as%20the%20Cipher%20Bureau." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Armed Forces Security Agency and then become the National Security Agency</a> (NSA) in 1952.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The Rise of the Machines in Cryptography<br /> </strong>Prior to 1932 practically all code breaking by the Army and Navy was done by hand. That year they began using commercial <em>mechanical </em>accounting equipment – the IBM <a href="https://pattonhq.com/ibm.html">keypunch</a>, <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/sorters.html">card sorters</a>, reproducers and <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/tabulator.html">tabulators</a>. The Army and Navy each had their own approach to automating cryptography. The Navy had a Rapid Analytical Machines project with hopes to build machines to integrate optics, microfilm and electronics into cryptanalytic tools. (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zpjpvxpJzMMp2BTsxx2PObH7IJopoq-u/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vannevar Bush at MIT was trying to build one for the Navy</a>.) As WWII loomed, the advanced Rapid Machines projects were put on hold, and the Army and Navy used hundreds of specially modified <em>commercial </em>IBM electromechanical systems to decrypt codes.</p> <div> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Read the sidebars for more detailed information</em></p> <blockquote> <div> <div> <h3><b>Electromechanical Cryptologic Systems in WWII</b></h3> </div> </div> <p style="font-weight: 400;">By the spring 1941, the Army built the first special-purpose cryptologic attachment to the IBM punched card equipment – the <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/02/2002755855/-1/-1/0/FAMOUS-FIRST-FACTS.PDF">GeeWhizzer</a> using relays and rotary switches to help break the <a href="http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-japanese-j-19-fuji-code_1.html">Japanese diplomatic code</a>s. That same year, the Navy received the first in a series of <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/02/2002755855/-1/-1/0/FAMOUS-FIRST-FACTS.PDF">13 electro-mechanical IBM Navy Change Machines</a> to automate decrypting cipher systems used by the Japanese Navy. The Navy attachments were extensive modifications of IBM’s standard <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/sorters.html">card sorters</a>, reproducers and <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/tabulator.html">tabulators</a>. Some could be manually reconfigured via <a href="https://www.glennsmuseum.com/items/ibm_card/">plugboards</a> to do different tasks.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">During the war the Army and Navy built ~75 of these electro-mechanical and optical systems. Some were standalone units the size of a room.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">However, the bulk of the cryptoanalysis was done with IBM punch cards, sorters and tabulators, along with special <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781119061601.app3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">microfilm comparators from Eastman Kodak</a>. By the end of the War the Army and Navy had <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_154/41745979078521.pdf">750 IBM machines</a> using several million punch cards every day.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">IBM’s other mechanical contribution to cryptanalysts was the <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/cam/cxco/index.htm">Letterwriter</a>, (codenamed CXCO) a desktop machine that tied together electric typewriters to teletype, automatic tape and card punches, microfilm and eventually to film-processing machines.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30197" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/ibm-letterwritter/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?fit=719%2C361&ssl=1" data-orig-size="719,361" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IBM Letterwritter" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?fit=300%2C151&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?fit=468%2C235&ssl=1" class="wp-image-30197 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?resize=229%2C115&ssl=1" alt="" width="229" height="115" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?w=719&ssl=1 719w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?resize=300%2C151&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IBM-Letterwritter.jpg?resize=150%2C75&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px" /></a> By adding plug-boards they could automate some analysis steps. Hundreds of these were bought.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The Navy’s most advanced cryptographic machine work in WWII was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Computing_Machine_Laboratory">building 125 U.S. versions</a> of the British code breaking machine called the <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/bombe/">BOMBE</a>. These electromechanical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe">BOMBES</a> were used to crack the ENIGMA, the cipher machine used by the Germans.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30198" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/ncr-bombe/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?fit=681%2C536&ssl=1" data-orig-size="681,536" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="NCR Bombe" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?fit=300%2C236&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?fit=468%2C368&ssl=1" class="wp-image-30198 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?resize=242%2C191&ssl=1" alt="" width="242" height="191" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?w=681&ssl=1 681w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?resize=300%2C236&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/NCR-Bombe.jpg?resize=150%2C118&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px" /></a>Designed by the Navy’s OPS-20-G team and <a href="http://www.jproc.ca/crypto/bombe_us.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">built at National Cash Register</a> (NCR) in Dayton, <a href="https://daytoncodebreakers.org/depth/wenger/">this same Computing Machine Lab would build ~25 other types of electromechanical and optical machines</a>, some the size of a room with <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/150065">3,500 tubes</a>, to assist in breaking Japanese and German codes. By the end of the war the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Computing_Machine_Laboratory">Naval Computing Machine Lab</a> was arguably building the most sophisticated electronic machines in the U.S. However, none of these machines were computers. They had no memory, and both were “‘hard-wired” to perform just one task.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">(Meanwhile in England the British code breaking group in <a href="https://bletchleypark.org.uk/our-story/75-years-since-colossus-arrived-at-bletchley/">Bletchley Park</a> built <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer">Colossus</a>, arguably the first digital computer. At the end of the War the British offered the Navy OPS-20-G code breaking group a Colossus but the Navy turned it down.)</p> </blockquote> </div> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Dual-Use Technology<br /> </strong>As the war was winding down, the leadership of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Computing_Machine_Laboratory">Navy Computing Machine Lab</a> in OPS-20-G was thinking about how they could permanently link commercial, academic and military computing science and innovation to the Navy. After discovering that no commercial company was willing to continue their wartime work of building the specialized hardware for codebreaking, the Navy realized they needed a new company. The decided that the best way to do that was to encourage a private for-profit company to spin out and build advanced crypto-computing systems.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The Secretary of the Navy gave his OK and three officers in the Navy’s code breaking group (Commander Howard Engstrom, who had been a math professor at Yale; Lieutenant Commander William “Bill” Norris, an electrical engineer; and their contracting officer Captain Ralph Meader,) agreed to start a civilian company to continue building specialized systems to help break codes. While unique for the time, this public-private partnership was in-line with the wartime experiment of Vannevar Bush’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Scientific_Research_and_Development">OSRD</a> – using civilians in universities to develop military weapons.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Why Minneapolis/St. Paul?<br /> </strong>While it seemed like a good idea and had the Navy’s backing, the founders got turned down for funding by companies, investment bankers and everyone, until they talked to John Parker.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Serendipity came to Minneapolis-St. Paul when the Navy team met <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107593/oh099jep.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Parker</a>. Parker was a ex Naval Academy graduate and a Minneapolis businessman who owned a glider manufacturing company and was well connected in Washington. Parker agreed to invest. In January 1946, they founded Engineering Research Associates (ERA). Parker became President, and got 50% of the company’s equity for a $20,000 investment (equal to $315K today) and guaranteed a $200,000 line of credit (equal to $3M today). The professional staff owned the other 50%. The new company moved into Parker’s glider hanger. Norris became the VP of Engineering, Engstrom the VP of Research, and Meader VP of Manufacturing.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The company hit the ground running. 41 of the best and brightest ex-Navy technical team members of the Naval Computing Machine Lab in Dayton moved and became the initial technical staff of ERA. When the Navy added their own staff from the Dayton Laboratory the ERA facility was designated a Naval Reserve Base and armed guards were posted at the entrance. The company took on any engineering work that came their way but were kept in business developing new code-breaking machines for the Navy. Most of the machines were custom-built to crack a specific code, and increasingly used a new ERA invention – the magnetic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_memory">drum memory</a> to process and analyze the coded texts.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERA’s headcount grew rapidly. Within a year the company had 145 people. A year later, 420. And by 1949, 652 employees and by 1955, <a href="https://www.vipclubmn.org/Articles/1971Paper.pdf">1400</a>. Sales in their first fiscal year were $1.5 million ($22 million in today’s dollars).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">During World War II the demands of war industries caused millions more Americans to move to where most defense plants located. Post-war era Americans were equally mobile, willing to move where the opportunities were. And if you were an engineer who wanted to work on the cutting edge of electronics, and electromechanical systems, ERA in Minneapolis-St. Paul was the place to be. (Applicants were told that ERA was doing electronics work for government and industry. Those who wanted more detail were given a number of cover stories. Many were told that ERA was working on airline seat reservation systems.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>How Did ERA Grow So Quickly?<br /> </strong>The Navy thought of ERA as its “captive corporation.” From the first day <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107551/oh116wcn.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">ERA started with contracts from the Navy</a> OPS-20-G codebreaking group. ERA built the most advanced electronic systems of the time. Unfortunately for the company they couldn’t tell anyone as their customer was the most secret government agency in the country – the National Security Agency.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERAs systems were designed to solve problems defined by their Navy code-breaking customer. They fell into two categories: some projects were designed to automate existing workflows of decoding known ciphers; others were used to discover breaks into new ciphers. And with the start of the Cold War, that meant Soviet cryptosystems. ERAs cryptanalytic devices were most often designed to break only one particular foreign cipher machine (which kept a stream of new contracts coming.) The specific purpose and target of each of these systems with colorful codenames are still classified.</p> <blockquote> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30228" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-help-wanted-ad-2-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?fit=384%2C392&ssl=1" data-orig-size="384,392" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA help wanted ad 2 photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?fit=294%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?fit=384%2C392&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30228" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?resize=156%2C159&ssl=1" alt="" width="156" height="159" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?w=384&ssl=1 384w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?resize=294%2C300&ssl=1 294w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-help-wanted-ad-2-photo.jpg?resize=147%2C150&ssl=1 147w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 156px) 100vw, 156px" /></a><strong>What Did ERA Build For the National Security Agency (NSA)?</strong></h3> <p style="font-weight: 400;">By the end of ERA’s first year, ERA had contracts for a digital device called Alcatraz which used thousands of vacuum tubes and relays. A contract for a system named O’Malley followed. Then two “exhaustive trial” systems called <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/cam/hecate/index.htm">Hecate</a> for $250,000 ($3.2 million in today’s dollars) and the follow-on system, <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/cam/warlock/index.htm">Warlock </a>($500,000 – $6.4 million today.) Warlock was so large that it was kept at the ERA factory and operated as a remote operations center.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Next were the <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_107/41743419078275.pdf">Robin machines, a photoelectric comparator</a>, used to attack the Soviet Albatross code. The first two were delivered in the end of 1950. Thirteen more were delivered to NSA over the next two years.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>ERA Disk Drives<br /> </em><span style="font-weight: 400;">One of the problems code breakers had was the difficulty of being able to store and operate on large sets of data. To do so, cryptanalysts used thousands of punched cards, miles of paper tapes and microfilm. ERA was the pioneer in the development of an early form of disk drives called magnetic drum memories.</span></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30207" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-drum-memory-photos-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?fit=966%2C774&ssl=1" data-orig-size="966,774" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA Drum Memory photos" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?fit=468%2C375&ssl=1" class="wp-image-30207 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?resize=163%2C130&ssl=1" alt="" width="163" height="130" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?w=966&ssl=1 966w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?resize=150%2C120&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Drum-Memory-photos.jpg?resize=768%2C615&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 163px) 100vw, 163px" /></a>ERA used these magnetic drums in the special systems they built for NSA and later in their Atlas computers. They also sold them as </span><a style="font-weight: 400;" href="https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/era.magnetic-storage-systems.ca1958.102646316.pdf">peripherals to other computer companies</a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a style="font-weight: 400;" href="http://www.jproc.ca/crypto/goldberg_and_demon.html">Goldberg</a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> which followed, was another room-sized special purpose machine – a comparator with statistical capabilities – that took photoelectric sensing and paper tape scanning to new heights. </span><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30211" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-goldberg-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?fit=897%2C585&ssl=1" data-orig-size="897,585" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA Goldberg" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?fit=300%2C196&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?fit=468%2C305&ssl=1" class="wp-image-30211 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?resize=205%2C134&ssl=1" alt="" width="205" height="134" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?resize=300%2C196&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?resize=150%2C98&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?resize=768%2C501&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Goldberg.jpg?w=897&ssl=1 897w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 205px) 100vw, 205px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Costing $250,000 ($3.2 million in today’s dollars), it had 7,000 tubes and was one of the first Agency machines to use a magnetic drum to store and handle data.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Another similarly sized system, <a href="http://www.jproc.ca/crypto/goldberg_and_demon.html">Demon</a>, followed. It was a dictionary machine designed to crack a Soviet code. It also used 34-inch-diameter magnetic drum to perform a specialized version of table lookup. Three of these large systems were delivered.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERA engineers operated at the same relentless and exhausting pace as they had done in war time – similar to how Silicon Valley silicon and computer companies would operate three decades later.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">For the next decade ERA would continue to deliver a stream of special-purpose code breaking electronic systems and subsystems for the Navy cryptologic community. (These NSA documents give a hint at the number and variety of encryption and decryption equipment at NSA in the early 1950’s: <a href="https://cryptomuseum.com/cam/files/NSA_19520613_CAM.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_107/41743419078275.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here,</a> <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_154/41745979078521.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_106/41743689078291.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/patent-equipment/FOLDER_425/41774259081336.pdf">here</a>.)</p> </blockquote> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERA was undercapitalized and always looking for other products to sell. At the same time ERA was building systems for the NSA they pursued other lines of businesses; <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA952695.pdf">research studies on liquid fueled rockets</a>, <a href="https://vipclubmn.org/couplers.html">aircraft antenna couplers</a> (which turned into a profitable product line,) a Doppler Miss Distance Indicator, <a href="https://crosleyautoclub.com/GasPorter/GasPorter.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ground Support Equipment</a> (GSE) for airlines, and Project Boom to produce instrumentation for what would become underground nuclear tests. A 1950 study for the Office of Naval Research called <a href="http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/era/High_Speed_Computing_Devices_1950.pdf">High-Speed Computing Devices</a> – a survey of all computers then existent in the U.S. As there was no single source of information about what was happening in the rapidly growing computer field, this ERA report became the bible of early U.S. computers.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The Holy Grail – A Digital Computer for Cryptography?<br /> </strong>As complicated as the ERA machines were, they were still single function machines, not general purpose computers. But up until 1946 no one had built a general purpose computer.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">With the war over what the Navy OP-20-G’s and Army SIS computing wizards really wanted was to create a single machine that could perform all the major cryptanalytic functions. The most important of the crypto techniques were based upon either locating repeated patterns, tallying massive numbers of letter patterns, and recognizing plain text, or performing some form of “exhaustive searching.”</p> <blockquote> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>How the NSA Got Their First Computers</strong></h3> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Their idea was to put each of these major cryptanalytic functions in separate, dedicated, single-function hardware boxes and connect them through a central switching mechanism. That would allow cryptanalysts to tie them together in any configuration; and hook it all to free-standing input/output mechanisms. With a stock of these specialized boxes the agencies believed they could create any desired cryptanalytic engine.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Just as the consensus for this type of architecture was coalescing, a new idea emerged in 1946 – the concept of a general purpose digital computer with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture">von Neumann architecture</a>. In contrast to having many separate hardwired functions, a general purpose computer would have just the four basic arithmetic ones (add, subtract, multiple and divide) along with a few that allowed movement of data between the input-output components, memory, and a single central processor. In theory, one piece of hardware could be made to imitate any machine through an inexpensive and easily changed set of instructions.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Opponents to the project believed that a von Neumann design would always be too slow because it had only a single processor to do everything. (This debate between dedicated special purpose hardware versus general purpose computers continues to this day.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The tipping point in this debate happened <a href="https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/3106067/Document-01.pdf">in 1946 when an OPS-20-G engineer went to the Moore School’s 1946 summer course on computers</a>. The Moore School’s computer group had just completed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC">ENIAC</a>, arguably the first programmable digital computer, and they were beginning to sketch the outlines of their own new computer, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_I#:~:text=The%20UNIVAC%20I%20(Universal%20Automatic,the%20inventors%20of%20the%20ENIAC.">UNIVAC</a> the first computer for business applications. The engineer came back to the Navy computing group an advocate for building a general-purpose digital computer for codebreaking having convinced himself that most cryptanalysis could be performed through digital methods. He prepared a report to show that his device would be useful to everyone at OP-20-G. The report remained Top Secret for decades.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The report detailed how a general-purpose machine could have successfully attacked the <a href="https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.857/2019/project/24-Lami-Kallco-Guo-Shi.pdf">Japanese Purple codes</a> as well as German <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine">Enigma</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_(cryptography)">Fish</a> systems, and how it would be usefully against the current Soviet and <a href="https://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/hagelin/index.htm">Hagelin</a> systems.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">This changed everything for the NSA. They were now in the computer business.</p> </blockquote> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>ERA’s ATLAS<br /> </em>In 1948 the Navy gave ERA the contract to produce its first digital computer called ATLAS to be used by OPS-20-G for codebreaking.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30209" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-ad-for-engineers-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?fit=1110%2C576&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1110,576" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA Ad for Engineers" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?fit=300%2C156&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?fit=468%2C243&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30209" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers-300x156.jpg?resize=208%2C108&ssl=1" alt="" width="208" height="108" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?resize=300%2C156&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?resize=1024%2C531&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?resize=150%2C78&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?resize=768%2C399&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?w=1110&ssl=1 1110w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Ad-for-Engineers.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 208px) 100vw, 208px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Twenty four months later, ERA delivered the first of two 24-bit ATLAS I computers. <a href="https://vipclubmn.org/Documents/Sperry%20UNIVAC%20-%20The%20First%20Computer%20Company%20-%20Chapter%203%20ERA%20by%20George%20Champine%20-%201979.pdf">The Atlas was 45’ wide and 9’ long. It weighed 16,000 pounds</a> and was water cooled. Each ATLAS I cost the NSA $1.3 million ($16 million in today’s dollars).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In hindsight, the NSA <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Rubicon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crossed the Rubicon</a> when the ATLAS I arrived. Today, an intelligence agency without computers is unimaginable. Its purchase showed incredible foresight and initiated a new era of cryptanalysis at the NSA. It was one of the handful of general purpose, binary computers anywhere. Ten<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KYd_QS4cONmf9YGO39aHJEf-hY8HglCV/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> years later the NSA would have 53 computers</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30215" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-atlas-console-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?fit=800%2C640&ssl=1" data-orig-size="800,640" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="ERA Atlas console photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?fit=468%2C374&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30215" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?resize=200%2C160&ssl=1" alt="" width="200" height="160" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?w=800&ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?resize=150%2C120&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Atlas-console-photo-.png?resize=768%2C614&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></a>ERA asked the NSA for permission to offer the computer for commercial sale. The NSA required ERA to <a href="https://vaibhavsagar.com/blog/2019/09/08/popcount/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remove instructions that made the computer efficient for cryptography</a>, and that became the commercial version – the <a href="https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/era.1101.1951.102646300.pdf">ERA 1101</a> announced in December 1951. It had no operating or programming manual and its input/output facilities was a typewriter, a paper tape reader, and a paper tape punch. At the time, no programming languages existed.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30218" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-1101-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?fit=1226%2C828&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1226,828" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA 1101 photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?fit=300%2C203&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?fit=468%2C316&ssl=1" class="alignleft wp-image-30218" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=200%2C135&ssl=1" alt="" width="200" height="135" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=1024%2C692&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=300%2C203&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=150%2C101&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?resize=768%2C519&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?w=1226&ssl=1 1226w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1101-photo.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">ERA had delivered a breakthrough computer without having an understanding of its potential application or what a customer might have to do to use the machine. In search of commercial customers, ERA set up a ERA 1101 computer in Washington and offered it to companies as a <a href="https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/era.computation-center.1950.102646301.pdf">remote computing center</a>. As far as the commercial world knew ERA was a startup with no real computing expertise and this was their first offering. In addition, the only people with experience in writing applications for the 1101 were hidden away at NSA, and ERA was unable to staff the Arlington office to create programs for customers. Finally, ERA’s penchant for extreme secrecy left them unschooled in the art of marketing, sales, and Public Relations. When they couldn’t find any customers they donated the <a href="https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/brochures/era.1101.1951.102646300.pdf">ERA 1101</a> to Georgia Tech.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">With their hands on their first ever general purpose digital computer, the Navy and ERA rapidly learned what needed to be improved. ERA’s follow-on computer, the ATLAS II was a 32-bit system with additional instruction extensions for cryptography. Two were delivered to NSA between 1953 and 1954. ATLAS II cost the NSA $2.3 million ($35 million today.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Late in 1952, a year before the ATLAS II was delivered to the NSA, ERA told <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Rand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Remington Rand</a> (who now owned the company) the ATLAS II computer existed (and the government had paid for its R&D costs) and it was competitive with the newly announced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_701" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBM 701</a>. When the ATLAS II was delivered to the NSA in 1953 they again asked for permission to sell it commercially (and again had to remove some instructions) which turned the Atlas II into the commercial <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_1103" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ERA/Univac 1103</a>. (see its 1956 reference manual <a href="http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/1103/Univac_Scientific_1103A_Reference_Manual_1956.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30220" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-1103-configuration-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?fit=1570%2C962&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1570,962" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA 1103 configuration photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?fit=300%2C184&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?fit=468%2C287&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30220" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=200%2C123&ssl=1" alt="" width="200" height="123" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=1024%2C627&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=300%2C184&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=150%2C92&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=768%2C471&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?resize=1536%2C941&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?w=1570&ssl=1 1570w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-1103-configuration-photo.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></a>This time with Remington Rand’s experience in sales and marketing, the computer was a commercial success with about twenty 1103s sold.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>ERA’s Bogart<br /> </em><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 1953, with the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">ATLAS </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">computers in hand, the Navy realized that a smaller digital computer could be used for data conversion and editing, and to “clean up” raw data for input to larger computers. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">This was the </span><a style="font-weight: 400;" href="http://www.silogic.com/Athena/Bogart.html">Bogart</a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30221" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-bogart-photo/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?fit=1244%2C866&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1244,866" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="ERA Bogart Photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?fit=300%2C209&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?fit=468%2C326&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-30221" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=200%2C139&ssl=1" alt="" width="200" height="139" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=1024%2C713&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=300%2C209&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=150%2C104&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?resize=768%2C535&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?w=1244&ssl=1 1244w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERA-Bogart-Photo.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Physically </span><a style="font-weight: 400;" href="http://www.silogic.com/Athena/Bogart.html">Bogart </a><span style="font-weight: 400;">was a “small, compact” (compared to the ATLAS) computer that weighed 3,000 pounds and covered 20 square feet of floor space. To get a feel of how insanely difficult it was to program a 1950’s computer take a look at the 1957 Bogart programming manual <a href="https://vipclubmn.org/BitsBakUp/BOGART%20Programmers%20Manual%20(July%201957).pdf">here</a>.) The Bogart design team was headed by <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/history-today-articles/10%202018/05OCT2018%20SEYMOUR%20CRAY%20and%20NSA.pdf?ver=P3xsKeHprvcBBChHKi77Gw%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seymour Cray</a>. E</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">RA delivered five Bogart machines to NSA. </span></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Seymour Cray would reuse features of the Bogart logic design when he designed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Tactical_Data_System" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Navy Tactical Data System computers</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/USQ-17" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNIVAC 490</a> and the Control Data Corporation’s <a href="https://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/october/16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC 1604</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC_160_series" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC 160</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">By 1953, 40% of the University of Minnesota electrical engineering graduates – including Cray – were working for ERA.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The End of an ERA<br /> </strong>By 1952, the mainframe computer industry was beginning to take shape with office machine and electronics companies such as Remington Rand, Burroughs, National Cash Register, Raytheon, RCA and IBM. Parker, still the CEO, realized that the frantic chase of government contracts was unsustainable. (The relationship with the NSA’s procurement offices now run by Army staff, had become so strained that the Navy Computing Lab was unable to get an official letter of thanks sent to ERA for having developed the ATLAS.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Parker calculated that ERA needed $5 million to $10 million ($75 to $150 million in today’s dollars) to grow and compete with the existing companies in the commercial computing market. Even after the NSA took over the cryptologic work of OPS-20-G the formal contracts with ERA were done through the Navy’s Bureau of Ships. NSA was known as No Such Agency and on paper its relationship with ERA didn’t exist. As far as the public knew, ERA’s products were for “the Navy.” Given that ERA’s extraordinary technical work was unknown to anyone other than the NSA, Parker didn’t think he could raise the money via a public offering (venture capital as we know it didn’t exist.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Instead, in 1952, Parker sold ERA to Remington Rand (best known for producing typewriters) for $1.7M (about $12M in today’s dollars.) A year earlier, Remington Rand had bought <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckert%E2%80%93Mauchly_Computer_Corporation">Eckert-Mauchly</a> – one of the first U.S. <em>commercial </em>computer companies – and its line of UNIVAC computers. They wanted ERA to get its government customers. ERA remained a standalone division. The ERA 1101 and 1103 became a part of the UNIVAC product line.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="30225" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/era-history-picture-edited/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?fit=455%2C277&ssl=1" data-orig-size="455,277" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="era history picture edited" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?fit=300%2C183&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?fit=455%2C277&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-30225" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?resize=455%2C277&ssl=1" alt="" width="455" height="277" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?w=455&ssl=1 455w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?resize=300%2C183&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/era-history-picture-edited.jpg?resize=150%2C91&ssl=1 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Parker became head of sales of the merged computer division. He left in 1956 and years later he became chairman of the Teleregister Corporation, the predecessor to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_Ramo">Bunker-Ramo</a>. He went on to become a director of several companies, including Northwest Airlines and Martin Marietta.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Remington Rand itself would be acquired by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperry_Corporation">Sperry</a> in 1955 and both ERA and Eckert–Mauchly were folded into a computer division called Sperry-UNIVAC. Much of ERA’s work was dropped, while their drum technology was used in newer UNIVAC machines. In 1986 Sperry merged with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_Corporation">Burroughs</a> to form <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisys">Unisys</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Epilogue<br /> </strong>For the next 60 years the NSA would have the largest collection of commercial computers and computing horsepower in the world. They would continue to supplement those with dedicated special purpose hardware.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The reorganization of American Signals Intelligence, leading to the creation of the <a href="https://cryptologicfoundation.org/community/bytes/this_day_in_history_calendar.html/event/2023/05/20/1684558800/1949-armed-forces-security-agency-created-/96271" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Armed Forces Signals Agency (AFSA)</a> in 1949, then <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/cryptologic-spectrum/early_history_nsa.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the NSA in 1952</a>, contributed to the demise of the special relationship between ERA and the code- breakers. The integration of the Army and Navy brought a shift in who made decisions about computer purchasing. NSA inherited a computer staff from the Army side of technical SIGINT. They had different ties and orientations than the few remaining old Navy hands. As a result, the new core NSA group did not protest when the special group that integrated Agency and ERA work was disbanded. The 1954 termination of the Navy Computing Machine Lab in St. Paul went almost unnoticed.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">But the era of Minnesota’s role as a scientific computing and innovation cluster wasn’t over. In fact, it was just getting started. In 1957 ERA co-founder William Norris, and Sperry-Univac engineers Seymour Cray, Willis Drake, and ERA’s treasurer Arnold Ryden, along with a half dozen others, left Sperry-Univac and teamed up with three investors to form a new Minneapolis-based computer company: Control Data Corporation (CDC). For the next two decades Control Data would build the fastest scientific computers in the world.</p> <p><strong>Read all the Secret History posts <a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/#Secret%20History%20Backstory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></strong></p> <hr /> <iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="91" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1720156728&width=false&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false"></iframe> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2023/12/11/the-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Minnesota%20Part%201%3A%20Engineering%20Research%20Associates&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2023%2F12%2F11%2Fthe-secret-history-of-minnesota-part-1-engineering-research-associates%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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</div> <div class="post-30042 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-familycareerculture category-national-security" id="post-30042"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2023/10/10/leaving-government-for-the-private-sector-part-1/" rel="bookmark">Leaving Government for the Private Sector – Part 1</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">October 10, 2023</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-thomas123/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laura Thomas</a> is a former <a href="https://www.cia.gov/about/organization/#directorate-of-operations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CIA operations</a> officer. Reading how she moved in 2021 from CIA ops into a quantum technology company offered insightful career transition advice for those leaving her agency. Most of her lessons were applicable to any government employee venturing out to the private sector.<br /> Below is the first of her three-part series.</p> <p>—-</p> <p>At least a few times a month, people looking to jump ask about my transition, which has led to me consolidating my answers below. To be up front, some of what I write will be controversial and all of it is biased. Due to length, I’ve broken it up into a three-part series.</p> <hr /> <p><strong>Is it really a big jump to the private sector? </strong>It wasn’t a big jump. At <a href="https://www.cia.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Agency</a>, 85% of my time was spent navigating bureaucracy and equities, arguing for resources and permission for operations, and dealing with the bottom rung of employees, all while making decisions with little data or data overload. Only 15% of my time was doing the more exciting <a href="https://www.cia.gov/about/organization/#directorate-of-operations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">operations</a>. Though that 15% – along with the camaraderie of some of my colleagues – made the work deeply meaningful.</p> <p>Industry is similar. Human nature is human nature, and I deal with many of the same challenges and pull many of the same levers of satisfaction. The difference is my decisions now aren’t life or death.</p> <p>Another large difference is the greater level of autonomy I now have. Making decisions on the fly in operations is an extreme example of autonomy, of course, but there is always a back-end overhead. Depending on company culture, decision-making can be driven dramatically down with less overhead. As an example, I can make direct recommendations to Congress with no oversight, no internal reporting requirements, and with the trust of the CEO and Board.</p> <p><strong>Do you miss it? </strong>Yes. Nothing beats the rush of <a href="https://spyscape.com/article/spy-glossary#:~:text=Bump,course%20taught%20at%20the%20Farm." target="_blank" rel="noopener">bumping a target</a> who agrees to meet with you again or landing in a foreign country for the first time. I no longer know the stories behind the headlines, and I’m not the person making those stories happen. Aside from close friends, I am now treated as an “outsider” by former colleagues.</p> <p>Fortunately, I still work with smart people solving hard problems every day. And there is still meaning in what I do. Raising tens of millions of dollars from investors to advance a technology faster than the Chinese Communist Party uses the same skillset. Learning how M&A deals are structured gives me the same thrill as first learning the mechanics of a <a href="https://trdcrft.com/surveillance-detection-route-sdr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surveillance detection route</a>. It’s the excitement of being a beginner again, but one with deep and profound experiences, which blunts the downs and enhances the ups that you will face post-Agency.</p> <p>Today, I get to move our national security mission in emerging technologies farther and faster in ways that I could not in government. And while there is some level of self-justification in these statements, there is nonlinearity in industry. You can move at exponential speed.</p> <p><strong>How do you transfer your old skills to your current role? </strong>Driving decisions, organizational change, and operations in a deep tech company presents many of the same challenges and opportunities as my time in government. Leading and managing people amid uncertainty, high degrees of change, and making decisions remain my day-to-day functions. My current role as a Chief of Staff is in many ways like a DCOS (deputy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_chief" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chief of station</a>) or a traditional Chief of Staff in government. I work behind the scenes, and sometimes out front, to shape our company vision, strategy and then execute, measure, and refine. (Rather than giving away bags of cash in my old job, I now ask for money from investors.)</p> <p>Relationship dynamics are the same, minus the burden of extreme secrecy. All the things that most of the outside world doesn’t understand as being critical to a <a href="https://spyscape.com/article/agent-handling-101-the-psychology-of-running-spies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">handler-asset relationship</a> are just as critical to relationships in industry. Judgment remains paramount.</p> <p>In the Agency I dealt with a few difficult personalities focused on empire-building and metrics rather than running sound operations. You likely will still deal with this in industry, though there are far fewer layers and entrenched interests to deal with. Knowing how to navigate various stakeholders and interests, avoid landmines, and bring people together is an extremely useful skill in industry. If you’ve been a “doer” who knows how to communicate, work, and gain buy-in across an enterprise that is geographically dispersed, as well as with and against external third parties who are frenemies (or outright hostile), this will serve you well in industry. Talk about it when you’re seeking jobs and interviewing.</p> <p><strong>Did you make any resume missteps?</strong> Most often your resume is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> what will get you a job, and submitting one to a recruiter or resume bank is not the right move. Odds are your resume is almost certainly written in government-speak, and probably more terrible than you realize. It likely talks about all the jobs you held (to the degree you can share) and the dates and maybe the general locations but says nothing about what you actually accomplished or how it <em>specifically</em> relates to industry. You probably won’t even get beyond the AI filter.</p> <p>Having a resume that says you served in country X and wrote reports that went to policymakers, and “the President,” might get you a <em>curiosity</em> interview, but won’t get you a job. Unless you can translate how your skills provide commercial value, you won’t get hired.</p> <p>For starters, first figure out which industry you want to work in, narrow it down, and work hard to get intros at the senior levels to a handful of companies (Board of Directors member, Advisory Board member, member of the C-suite (CEO, CTO, CFO, etc), and/or investor.) You have to do a lot of networking to create your list and build your network. Find a way to meet and captivate them with a story of what you did, and how your skills can transfer this to industry and add value to their company.</p> <p>An early learning point for me came as I was speaking with a prospective VC about a job. He flat-out told me he didn’t understand my value to the company. He asked point blank, “How much money did you net the U.S. Government over your career, what exactly did you do in order to get those results, and how would you bring me those same returns?”</p> <p>You will get asked a question like this.</p> <p>My suggestion is to say something along these lines: “It’s exponentially harder to be hired by the Agency than it is to get into Harvard, and not only was I hired based on an assessment of my judgment and the ability to operate in ambiguous situations, I <em>then</em> was trained to do just that, and <em>then</em> did it for years.</p> <p>I was entrusted to create and carry out some of the most sensitive and most important missions that the U.S. Government conducts, often with little direction. Not only did I have to plan and do them, I had to do so in secret, with lives on the line, <em>which is hard to put a price tag on</em>.</p> <p>You can give me your toughest problem, and I will figure out how to solve it in record time <em>with</em> buy-in from those whom you rarely get buy-in, and position you for multiple shots on goal for future opportunities because I will have your company and sector wired. I can do for you what I did for our country: evaluate opportunity, mitigate risk, and make quick <em>and</em> smart decisions that attack problems differently than a typical insider would. I’ll turn my salary into millions of dollars in returns or investments within two years – not singlehandedly – but in a cooperative way that leverages many parts of the company. We’ll row in unison and we’ll row in the right direction.”</p> <p><strong>How did you get your current job? </strong>I networked nonstop and ran a full targeting campaign for multiple companies to get to their CEOs. I didn’t have a resume when I was looking for jobs. I had to find senior people who had left the agency who would vouch for me.</p> <p>For my current company <a href="https://www.infleqtion.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Infleqtion</a>, I was introduced to a former senior Intelligence Community official who previously served on a board with the CEO, who made an introduction. When we met I asked the CEO his challenges and outlined how I might be able to help. Five months later, the CEO called and said he may have a job for me and invited me to visit and speak with others in the company for their input. I received an offer shortly thereafter.</p> <p>Meanwhile, three years before I left the Agency I had done a cold outreach on LinkedIn to the person I suspected was the hiring manager for a job advertisement for a company that I liked. The person told me they wanted someone with more business experience for the role, but then came calling <em>three years later</em> when another role opened that they thought would be a good fit. Ultimately, I met each layer up in that company including the CEO.</p> <p>This all came in handy when negotiating salary, title, and function. From the many, many hours of networking hustle, I received two job offers, which happened in parallel, and I negotiated around the same title and compensation levels. Throughout the entire process, I forwarded them relevant articles and commentary on opportunities to demonstrate my value. Ultimately, I chose Infleqtion because of its mission, its people, and its reputation amid US Government circles.</p> <p><strong>Action</strong>: A) If you’re an A-player, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">stay in government</span>. B) If you’re an A-player and leave, do great things on the outside and return to government service at some point.</p> <p><strong>Coming up next</strong>:</p> <p>• Part II – what are the criteria for choosing your next role, the most common types of business roles that formers go into, and how to think about big vs small company risks and current markets.</p> <p>• Part III – title, compensation (salary + equity + bonuses) and resources you can use.</p> <p>Read the rest of Laura’s blogs at <a href="https://www.lauraethomas.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lauraethomas.com/</a><br /> <iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="91" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1639121841&width=false&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false"></iframe></p> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2023/10/10/leaving-government-for-the-private-sector-part-1/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Leaving%20Government%20for%20the%20Private%20Sector%20-%20Part%201&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2023%2F10%2F10%2Fleaving-government-for-the-private-sector-part-1%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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A wonderful movie on multiple levels.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">But the Atomic Bomb story that starts at Los Alamos with Oppenheimer and General Grove misses the fact that <em>from mid-1940 to mid-1942 it was Vannevar Bush</em> (and his number 2, James Conant, the president of Harvard) <em>who ran the U.S. atomic bomb program</em> and laid the groundwork that made the Manhattan Project possible.</p> <p>Here’s the story.</p> <hr /> <p style="font-weight: 400;">During World War II, the combatants (Germany, Britain, U.S. Japan, Italy, and the Soviet Union) made strategic decisions about what types of weapons to build (tanks, airplanes, ships, submarines, artillery, rockets), what was the right mix (aircraft carriers, fighter planes, bombers, light/ medium/ heavy tanks, etc.) and how many to build.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">But only one country – the U.S. — succeeded in building nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons during the war, moving from atomic theory and lab experiments to actually deploying nuclear weapons in a remarkable 3 years.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Three reasons unique to the U.S. made this possible:</p> <ol> <li>Émigré and U.S. physicists who feared that the Nazis would have an atomic bomb led to passionate advocacy <em>before </em>the government became involved.</li> <li>A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Advisor_to_the_President" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Presidential Science Advisor</a> who created a <em>civilian</em> organization for building advanced weapons systems, funded and coordinated atomic research, then convinced the president to authorize an atomic bomb program and order the Army build it.</li> <li>The commitment of U.S. industrial capacity and manpower to the atomic bomb program as the No. 1 national priority.</li> </ol> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The Atom Splits<br /> </strong>In December 1938 scientists in Nazi Germany reported a new discovery – that the Uranium atom split (<a href="https://youtu.be/mBdVK4cqiFs?t=38" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fissioned</a>) when it hit with neutrons. Other scientists calculated that splitting the uranium atom released an enormous amount of energy.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/splitting-atom.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29897" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/splitting-atom/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/splitting-atom.jpg?fit=322%2C241&ssl=1" data-orig-size="322,241" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="splitting atom" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/splitting-atom.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/splitting-atom.jpg?fit=322%2C241&ssl=1" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-29897" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/splitting-atom.jpg?resize=150%2C112&ssl=1" alt="" width="150" height="112" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/splitting-atom.jpg?resize=150%2C112&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/splitting-atom.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/splitting-atom.jpg?w=322&ssl=1 322w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Fear and Einstein<br /> </strong>Once it became clear that in theory a single bomb with enormous destructive potential was possible, it’s hard to understate the existential dread, fear, and outright panic of U.S. and British emigre physicists – many of them Jewish refugees who had fled Germany and occupied Europe. In the 1920s and ‘30s, Germany was the world center of advanced physics and the home of many first-class scientists. After seeing firsthand the terror of Nazi conquest, the U.S. and British understood all too well what an atomic bomb in the hands of the Nazis would mean. They assumed that German scientists had the know-how and capacity to build an atomic bomb. This was so concerning that physicists convinced Albert Einstein in August 1939 <a href="https://www.fdrlibrary.org/documents/356632/390886/document007.pdf/3483329d-7b68-442d-953d-eb91e0c5c9b1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to write</a> to President Roosevelt pointing out the potential of an atomic weapon and the risk of the bomb in German hands.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Motivated by fear of a Nazi atomic bomb, for the next two years scientists in the U.S. lobbied, pushed and worked at a frantic speed to get the government engaged, believing they were in a race with Nazi Germany to build a bomb.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">After Einstein’s letter, Roosevelt appointed an Advisory Committee on Uranium. In early 1940 the Committee recommended that the government fund limited research on Uranium isotope separation. It spent $6,000.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Vannevar Bush Takes Over – National Defense Research Committee</strong> <strong>(NRDC)<br /> </strong>European émigré physicists (Einstein, Fermi, Szilard, and Teller) and Ernest Lawrence at Berkeley were frustrated at the pace the Advisory Committee on Uranium was moving. As theorists, they thought it was clear an atomic bomb could be built. They wanted the U.S. government to aggressively fund atomic research, so that the U.S. could build an atomic bomb before the Germans had one.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Physicists.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29899" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/physicists/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Physicists.jpg?fit=422%2C338&ssl=1" data-orig-size="422,338" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Physicists" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Physicists.jpg?fit=300%2C240&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Physicists.jpg?fit=422%2C338&ssl=1" class="alignright wp-image-29899 size-thumbnail" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Physicists.jpg?resize=150%2C120&ssl=1" alt="" width="150" height="120" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Physicists.jpg?resize=150%2C120&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Physicists.jpg?resize=300%2C240&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Physicists.jpg?w=422&ssl=1 422w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a>They weren’t alone in feeling frustrated about the U.S. approach to advanced weapons, not just atomic bombs.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In June 1940 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vannevar Bush</a>, ex-MIT dean of engineering; and<em> a group of the country’s top </em><em>science</em> <em>and </em><em>research administrators</em><em> (</em>Harvard President <a href="https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/People/Administrators/james-conant.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Conant</a>, Bell Labs President and head of the National Academy of Sciences <a href="https://ethw.org/Frank_B._Jewett" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frank Jewett</a>, and <a href="http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/tolman-richard.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richard Tolman</a> Caltech Dean) all felt that there was a huge disconnect. The U.S. military had little idea of what science could provide in the event of war, and scientists were wholly in the dark as to what the military needed. As a result, <em>they believed the U.S. was woefully unprepared and ill-equipped for a war driven by technology. </em></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>This group engineered a massive end run around the existing Army and Navy Research and Development labs. Bush and others believed that advanced weapons could be created better and faster if they could be designed by </em><em>civilian scientists and engineers in universities and companies</em>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The scientists drafted a one-page plan for a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Research_Committee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Defense Research Committee</a> (NDRC). The NDRC would look for new technologies that the military labs weren’t working on (radar, proximity fuses, and anti-submarine warfare. (At first, atomic weapons weren’t even on their list.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">in June 1940 Bush got Roosevelt’s approval for the NDRC. In a masterful bureaucratic sleight of hand the NDRC sat in the newly created Executive Office of the President (EOP), where it got its funding and reported directly to the president. <em>This meant that the NDRC didn’t need legislation or a presidential executive order. More importantly it could operate without congressional or military oversight</em>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Roosevelt’s decision gave the United States an 18-month head start for employing science in the war effort.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The NRDC was divided into five divisions and one committee, each run by a <em>civilian </em>director and each having a number of sections. (see diagram below.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29900" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/ndrc/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?fit=1853%2C799&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1853,799" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="NDRC" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?fit=300%2C129&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?fit=468%2C202&ssl=1" class="wp-image-29900 size-large aligncenter" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?resize=468%2C202&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="202" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?resize=1024%2C442&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?resize=300%2C129&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?resize=150%2C65&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?resize=768%2C331&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?resize=1536%2C662&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?w=1853&ssl=1 1853w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NDRC.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p>Bush became chairman of the NDRC and the first U.S. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Advisor_to_the_President">Presidential Science Advisor</a> <em>systematically</em> applying science to develop advanced weapons. The U.S., alone among all the Axis powers and Allied nations, now had a science advisor who reported directly to the president and had the charter and budget to fund<em> </em>advanced weapon systems <em>research</em> – outside the confines of the Army or Navy.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">NRDC was run by science <em>administrators</em>, who had managed university researchers as well as complex research and applied engineering projects science before. They took input from theorists, experimental physicists, and industrial contractors, and were able to weigh the advice they were receiving. They understood the risks, scale and resources needed to turn blackboard theory to deployed weapons. Equally important, they weren’t afraid to make multiple bets on a promising technology nor were they afraid to kill projects that seemed like dead ends for the war effort.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>200+ contracts<br /> </em>Prior to mid 1940 research in U.S. universities was funded by private foundations or companies. There was no government funding. The NRDC changed that. With a budget of $10,000,000 to fund <em>research</em> proposed by the five section chairmen, the NDRC funded 200+ contracts for research in radar, physics, optics, chemical engineering, and atomic fission.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>For the first time ever, U.S. university researchers were receiving funding from the U.S. government</em>. (It would never stop.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>The Uranium Committee<br /> </em>In addition to the five NRDC divisions working on conventional weapons, the NRDC took over the moribund standalone Uranium Committee and made it a scientific advisory board reporting directly to Bush. The goal was to understand whether the theory of an atomic weapon could be turned into a practical weapon. Now the NRDC could directly fund research scientists to investigate ways to separate for U-235 to make a bomb.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>What Didn’t Work at the NRDC?<br /> </em>After a year, it was clear to Bush that while the NDRC was funding advanced research, the military wasn’t integrating those inventions into weapons. The NRDC had <em>no authority to build and acquire weapons</em>. Bush decided what he needed was a way to bypass traditional Army and Navy <em>procurement processes</em> and get those advanced weapons built.<strong> </strong></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Read the sidebars for background.</em></p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29941" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/opp-sidebar-1/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?fit=1411%2C1844&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1411,1844" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Opp sidebar 1" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?fit=230%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?fit=468%2C611&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-29941" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?resize=468%2C611&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="611" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?resize=784%2C1024&ssl=1 784w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?resize=230%2C300&ssl=1 230w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?resize=115%2C150&ssl=1 115w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?resize=768%2C1004&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?resize=1175%2C1536&ssl=1 1175w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?w=1411&ssl=1 1411w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Opp-sidebar-1.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29944" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/opp-sidebar-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?fit=1344%2C739&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1344,739" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="opp sidebar 2" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?fit=300%2C165&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?fit=468%2C257&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-29944" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?resize=468%2C257&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="257" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C563&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?resize=300%2C165&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?resize=150%2C82&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?resize=768%2C422&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?w=1344&ssl=1 1344w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-2.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The Office of Scientific Research and Development</strong> <strong>Stands Up<br /> </strong>In May 1941 Bush went back to President Roosevelt, this time with a more audacious request: Turn NRDC into an organization that not only funded research but <em><u>built</u> prototypes of new advanced weapons</em> <em>and had the budget and authority to write contracts to industry to build these weapons at scale</em>. In June 1941 Roosevelt agreed and signed the Executive Order creating the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD). (It’s worth reading the Executive Order <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-8807-establishing-the-office-scientific-research-and-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the extraordinary authority he gave OSRD.)</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">OSRD expanded the National Defense Research Committee’s (NDRC) original five divisions into 19 weapons divisions, five research committees and a medical portfolio. Each division managed a broad portfolio of projects from research to production, and deployment. Its organization chart is shown below.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29907" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/osrd-23/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?fit=1626%2C1511&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1626,1511" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="OSRD 23" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?fit=300%2C279&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?fit=468%2C435&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-29907" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?resize=468%2C435&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="435" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?resize=1024%2C952&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?resize=300%2C279&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?resize=150%2C139&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?resize=768%2C714&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?resize=1536%2C1427&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?w=1626&ssl=1 1626w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/OSRD-23.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">These divisions spearheaded the development of an impressive array of advanced weapons including <a href="http://www.vectorsite.net/ttwiz_03.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">radar</a>, <a href="http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3672/1/Snyder.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rockets</a>, <a href="http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hua15001" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sonar</a>, the <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq96-1.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proximity fuse</a>, <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/napalm.htm">Napalm</a>, the Bazooka and new drugs such as <a href="http://www.lib.niu.edu/2001/iht810139.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">penicillin</a> and cures for malaria.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The OSRD was a radical experiment. Instead of the military controlling weapons development Bush was now running an organization where civilian scientists designed and built advanced weapons systems. Nearly 10,000 scientists and engineers received draft deferments to work in these labs.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">As a harbinger of much bigger things, the NRDC uranium committee was enlarged and renamed the S-1 Section on Uranium.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Applied-physicists.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29915" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/applied-physicists/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Applied-physicists.jpg?fit=652%2C338&ssl=1" data-orig-size="652,338" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Applied physicists" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Applied-physicists.jpg?fit=300%2C156&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Applied-physicists.jpg?fit=468%2C243&ssl=1" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-29915" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Applied-physicists.jpg?resize=300%2C156&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="156" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Applied-physicists.jpg?resize=300%2C156&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Applied-physicists.jpg?resize=150%2C78&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Applied-physicists.jpg?w=652&ssl=1 652w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Throughout the next year the pace of atomic research picked up. And Bush’s involvement in launching the U.S. nuclear weapons program would grow larger.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong> </strong>By the middle of 1941 Bush was beginning to believe that building an atomic bomb was possible. But he felt he did not have enough evidence to suggest to the president that the country commit to the massive engineering effort to build the bomb.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Then the MAUD report from the British arrived.</p> <div style="background-color: #ededed;"> <div style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 5px;"> <p><strong>The British Nuclear Weapons Program codenamed “Tube Alloys” and the MAUD Report</strong></p> <p>Meanwhile in the UK, British nuclear physicists had not only concluded that building an atomic bomb was feasible, but they had calculated the size of the industrial effort needed.In March 1940 scientists had told UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill that nuclear weapons could be built.</p> <p>In June 1940 the UK formed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAUD_Committee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MAUD Committee</a> to study the possibility of developing a nuclear weapon. A year later they had their answer: the July 1941 the MAUD Committee report, “Use of Uranium for a Bomb,” said that it was possible to build a bomb from uranium using gaseous diffusion on a massive scale to produce uranium-235. It kick-started the UK’s own nuclear weapons program called Tube Alloys. (Read the MAUD report <a href="https://fissilematerials.org/library/maud.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.)</p> <p>They delivered their report to Vannevar Bush in July 1941. And it changed everything.</p> </div> </div> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Bush is Convinced by the MAUD Report<br /> </strong>The MAUD Report finally pushed Bush over the edge. The British report showed how it was possible to build an atomic bomb. The fact that the British were independently saying what passionate advocates like Lawrence, Fermi, et al were saying convinced Bush that an atomic bomb program was worth investing in at the scale needed.</p> <div style="background-color: #ededed;"> <div style="border: 2px solid black; padding: 5px;"> <p>For a short period of time in 1941 the UK was ahead of the U.S. in thinking about how to weaponize uranium, but British officials dithered on approaching the U.S. for a full nuclear partnership with the U.S. By mid 1942, when the British realized their industrial capacity was stretched too thin and they couldn’t build the uranium separation plants and Bomb alone during the War, the <a href="https://www.ias.edu/idea-tags/manhattan-project" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Manhattan Project</a> was scaling up and the U.S. had no need for the UK.</p> <p>The UK would play a minor role in the Manhattan project.</p> </div> </div> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Bush Tells Roosevelt – We Can Build an Atomic Bomb<br /> </strong>In October 1941, Bush told the President about the British MAUD report conclusions: the bomb’s uranium core might weigh twenty-five pounds, its explosive power might equal eighteen hundred tons of TNT, but to separate the U-235 they would need to build a massive industrial facility. The President asked Bush to work with the Army Corps of Engineers to figure out what type of plant to build, how to build it and how much would it cost.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">A month later, in November 1941 the U.S. National Academy of Sciences confirmed to Bush that the British MAUD report conclusions were correct.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Bush now had all the pieces lined up to support an all-out effort to develop an atomic bomb.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>December 1941 – Let’s Build an Atomic Bomb<br /> </strong>In December 1941, the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, <em>the atomic bomb program was placed under Vannevar Bush</em>. He renamed the Uranium program as the S-1 Committee of OSRD.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In addition to overseeing the 19 Divisions of OSRD, Bush’s new responsibility was to coordinate all the moving parts of the atomic bomb program – the research, the lab experiments, and now the beginning of construction contracts.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">With the Presidents support, Bush <u>reorganized the program to take it from research to a weapons program</u>. The goal now was to find the best ways to produce uranium-235 and Plutonium in large quantities. He appointed Harold Urey at Columbia to lead the gaseous diffusion and centrifuge methods and heavy-water studies. Ernest Lawrence at Berkeley took electromagnetic and plutonium responsibilities, and Arthur Compton at Chicago ran chain reaction and weapons theory programs. This team proposed to begin building pilot plants for all five methods of separating U-235 before they were proven. Bush and Conant agreed and sent the plan to the President, Vice President, and Secretary of War, suggesting the Army Corps of Engineers build these plants.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">With U.S. now at war with Germany and Japan, the race to build the bomb was on.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29930" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/nrdc-and-osrd/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?fit=1025%2C400&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1025,400" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="NRDC and OSRD" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?fit=300%2C117&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?fit=468%2C183&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-29930" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?resize=468%2C183&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="183" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?w=1025&ssl=1 1025w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?resize=300%2C117&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?resize=150%2C59&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?resize=768%2C300&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NRDC-and-OSRD.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">In January 1942, Compton made Oppenheimer responsible for fast neutron research at Berkeley. This very small part of the atomic bomb program is the first time Oppenheimer was formally engaged in atomic bomb work.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Enter the Army<br /> </strong>The Army began attending OSRD S-1 (the Atomic Bomb group) meetings in March 1942. Bush told the President that by the summer of 1942 the Army should be authorized to build full-scale plants.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Build the U-235 Separation and Plutonium Plants<br /> </strong>By May 1942 it was still unclear which U-235 separation method would work and what was the right way to build a nuclear reactor to make Plutonium, so the S-1 committee recommended – <em>build all of them</em>. Build centrifuge, electromagnetic separation, and gaseous diffusion plants as fast as possible; build a heavy water plant for the nuclear reactors as an alternative to graphite; build reactors to produce plutonium; and start planning for large-scale production and select the site(s). The S-1 Committee also recommended the Army be in charge of building the plants.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29946" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/opp-sidebar-z3/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?fit=1351%2C1900&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1351,1900" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Opp sidebar z3" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?fit=213%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?fit=468%2C658&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-29946" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?resize=468%2C658&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="658" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?resize=728%2C1024&ssl=1 728w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?resize=213%2C300&ssl=1 213w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?resize=107%2C150&ssl=1 107w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?resize=768%2C1080&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?resize=1092%2C1536&ssl=1 1092w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?w=1351&ssl=1 1351w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Opp-sidebar-z3.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a>Meanwhile that same month, Oppenheimer was made the “Coordinator of Rapid Rupture.” He headed up a group of theorists working with experimentalists to calculate how many pounds of U-235 and Plutonium were needed for a bomb.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29948" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/opp-sidebar-5/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?fit=1351%2C874&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1351,874" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="opp sidebar 5" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?fit=300%2C194&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?fit=468%2C303&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-29948" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?resize=468%2C303&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="303" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?w=1351&ssl=1 1351w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?resize=300%2C194&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?resize=1024%2C662&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?resize=150%2C97&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?resize=768%2C497&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/opp-sidebar-5.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The Manhattan Engineering District – The Atomic Program Moves to the Army<br /> </strong>In June 1942, the president approved Bush’s plan to hand building the bomb over to the Army. The Manhattan Engineering District became the new name for the U.S. atomic bomb program. General Groves was appointed its head in September 1942.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29973" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/opp-sidebar-6/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?fit=1352%2C520&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1352,520" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="opp sidebar 6" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?fit=300%2C115&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?fit=468%2C180&ssl=1" class="aligncenter wp-image-29973" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?resize=468%2C180&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="180" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?resize=1024%2C394&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?resize=300%2C115&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?resize=150%2C58&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?resize=768%2C295&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?w=1352&ssl=1 1352w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/opp-sidebar-6.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">To everyone’s surprise Groves selected Oppenheimer to administer the program. It was a surprise because up until then Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist, not an experimentalist nor had he ever run or managed any programs.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Grove and Oppenheimer decided that in addition to the massive production facilities – U-235 in Oak Ridge, TN, and Plutonium in Hanford, WA – they would need a central laboratory to design the bomb itself. <em>This would become Los Alamos</em>. And Oppenheimer would head that lab bringing together a diverse set of theorists, experimental physicists, explosive experts, chemistry, and metallurgists.</p> <div id="attachment_29952" style="width: 879px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-29952" data-attachment-id="29952" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/bush-conant-and-grove/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?fit=869%2C619&ssl=1" data-orig-size="869,619" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Bush Conant and Grove" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="<p>Bush, Conant and Grove at Plutonium production site at Hanford -July 1945</p> " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?fit=300%2C214&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?fit=468%2C333&ssl=1" class="size-full wp-image-29952" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?resize=468%2C333&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="333" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?w=869&ssl=1 869w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?resize=300%2C214&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?resize=150%2C107&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bush-Conant-and-Grove.jpg?resize=768%2C547&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-29952" class="wp-caption-text">Bush, Conant and Grove at Plutonium production site at Hanford -July 1945</p></div> <p style="font-weight: 400;">At its peak in mid-1944 130,000 people were working on the Manhattan Project; 5,000 of them worked at Los Alamos.</p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?ssl=1"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="29984" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/scale-manhattan/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?fit=3075%2C1961&ssl=1" data-orig-size="3075,1961" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="scale manhattan" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?fit=300%2C191&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?fit=468%2C298&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-29984" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?resize=468%2C298&ssl=1" alt="" width="468" height="298" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?resize=1024%2C653&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?resize=300%2C191&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?resize=150%2C96&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?resize=768%2C490&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?resize=1536%2C980&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?resize=2048%2C1306&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?w=936&ssl=1 936w, https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/scale-manhattan.jpg?w=1404&ssl=1 1404w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px" /></a></p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Vannevar Bush would be present at the test of the Plutonium weapon at the Trinity test site in July 1945.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The OSRD would be the organization that made the U.S. the leader in 20<sup>th</sup> century research. At the end of World War II, Bush laid out his vision for future U.S. support of research in an article called “<a href="https://www.nsf.gov/about/history/EndlessFrontier_w.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Science the Endless Frontier</a>.” OSRD was disbanded in 1947, but after a long debate it was resurrected in pieces. Out of it came the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, the Atomic Energy Commission and ultimately NASA and DARPA – all would all spring from its roots.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">50 years before it happened Bush would describe what would become the internet in a 1945 article called <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As We May Think</a>.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Summary</strong></p> <blockquote> <ul> <li>By the time Oppenheimer and Grove took over the Atomic Bomb program, Vannevar Bush had been running it for two years</li> <li>The U.S. atomic bomb program was the sum of multiple small decisions guided by OSRD and a Presidential science advisor – Vannevar Bush</li> <li>Bush’s organizations kick-started the program. The NDRC invested (in 2023 dollars) $10M in nuclear research, OSRD put in another $250M for nuclear experiments</li> <li>The Manhattan project would ultimately cost ~$40 billion to build the two bombs.</li> <li>As the country was in a crisis – decisions were made in days/weeks by small groups with the authority to move with speed and urgency.</li> <li>Large-scale federal funding for science research in U.S. universities started with the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) – more to come in subsequent posts</li> </ul> </blockquote> <p><strong>Read all the Secret History posts <a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/#Secret%20History%20Backstory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></strong></p> <hr /> <iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="91" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1604784834&width=false&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=false&color=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false"></iframe> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2023/08/29/before-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Before%20there%20was%20Oppenheimer%20there%20was%20Vannevar%20Bush&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2023%2F08%2F29%2Fbefore-there-was-oppenheimer-there-was-vannevar-bush%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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