Pentagon Tech Efforts are ‘90 Percent Waste’: Former DOD Official

Pentagon Tech Efforts are ‘90 Percent Waste’: Former DOD Official
Nicolas Chaillan, former Air Force chief software officer, in Washington on Oct. 13. Jared Cummings/Conservative Partnership Institute
Andrew Thornebrooke
Andrew Thornebrooke
National Security Correspondent
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Waste, mismanagement, and a general unwillingness to adopt new ways of doing things are preventing the U.S. military from contending with China in several critical and emerging technology fields, according to one former Pentagon official.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is threatening to surpass the United States in developing AI, machine learning, and hypersonic weapons technologies, said Nicolas Chaillan, former chief software officer of the Air Force.

“[There’s] a lot of silos and egos, kind of slowing the urgency or, at the very least, not admitting often that China is leading the way in some of these fields that will define who is going to win the next battle,” Chaillan said during an Aug. 30 interview with NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

Chaillan said that the fast pace at which the CCP was acquiring advanced technologies, both through partnering with U.S. companies and outright theft, was a major cause of concern for national security.
Andrew Thornebrooke is a national security correspondent for The Epoch Times covering China-related issues with a focus on defense, military affairs, and national security. He holds a master's in military history from Norwich University.
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