Introduction
Since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, strategists, journalists, and even combatants have noted the ability of U.S. technology companies to influence the course of the crisis there. To explore the relationship between these commercial companies and the U.S. government in light of events in Ukraine, we convened a group of leaders, including from industry and government, to evolve our understanding of what is happening and what that might mean for future conflicts. The group included a roughly even mix of U.S. business and former government leaders, as well as several members of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), and a representative of the UK Ministry of Defense.
We began our exploration of these issues in our article Big Tech Goes to War, published by Foreign Affairs on Oct 19, 2022.* This workshop explored many of the issues we raised in this article and added more. The conversation was held under the Chatham House Rule but participants agreed to having their names listed. This workshop report captures the key issues that were discussed.
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* The October 2022 Foreign Affairs article, Big Tech Goes to War, can be accessed here: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/big-tech-goes-war.