A top political action committee (PAC) has asked that the Department of Defense (DoD) open an investigation into whether recent U.S. Army recruits hailing from leadership roles in industry pose any conflict of interest in military operations.
PAC Democracy Defenders Fund requested that DoD Inspector General Steven Stebbins investigate the recent appointments to the new Army Innovation Corps of technology executives Shyam Sankar, the chief technology officer from Palantir; Andrew Bosworth, the CTO from Meta; Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer; and Bob McGrew, who until last November was chief research officer at OpenAI.
The July 1 letter from the PAC points out that those executives have maintained their employment within industry while also holding their Pentagon positions, and do not have prior military experience.
“Assigning high-level private sector officials from artificial intelligence companies to military roles overseeing the use and deployment of artificial intelligence is not an example of getting the best and the brightest,” wrote the PAC. “Rather, it is an example of handing the henhouse keys over to the fox.”
The Army Innovation Corp aims to “make the force leaner, smarter, and more lethal,” according to a statement from the Army upon announcing the appointment of the executives to the Innovation Corps with the ranks of lieutenant colonel.
“Given the ongoing and clear financial interest these appointees have in the adoption of Artificial Intelligence by the Department of Defense, there is a real risk that these individuals may engage in self-dealing or use their positions or nonpublic government information to benefit their outside employers in violation of federal law,” wrote the PAC.
The letter added that all four tech companies have “hundreds of millions of dollars” at stake, noting that the DoD has already awarded over $1 billion worth of contracts to Palantir and its subsidiaries while Meta, Anduril, and OpenAI all have their own contracts and agreements with the Pentagon.
“Several members of the Corps also could have a personal financial interest in the success of their companies receiving large contracts from the Department,” reads the letter. “Although pay data is not available for OpenAI or for Thinking Machines Labs, both Palantir and Meta have provided information on their executive pay through their most recent proxy statements.”
Democracy Defenders Fund cited Federal code that prohibits Federal employees from being involved in government matters whenever there is a realistic “potential for gain or loss” for themselves or a company.
“Adherence to this statutory requirement is necessary to ensure that employees are not making decisions under circumstances in which the ‘temptation to put a finger on the scale’ in their own favor or in the favor of their outside employers exists because they have a ‘financial reason to prefer a particular outcome,’” wrote the PAC.