Crescendo, a project by the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE), MPower Change and Little Sis focuses on research outlining the ways that America's Big Tech sector has benefitted from the War on Terror, thanks to the involuntary generosity of American taxpayers. While the Military-Industrial-Intelligence community garners most of the headline news when it comes to what can only be described as obscene levels of government funding, Big Tech has experienced a very significant increase in the demand for their services by Washington. Let's look at some details from the project entitled "Digital Destroyers".
The Global War on Terror or GWoT had its genesis following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since that time, Washington has made repeated and consistent policy decisions that target Muslim, Black and brown people through the increasing use of ever more advanced surveillance systems. This has required the input of technological services from Big Tech and, is in large part, responsible for their massive growth from "garage and basement" businesses to the technological behemoths of today.
Here is a timeline showing key events in the evolution of Big Tech as a beneficiary of the GWoT which seem like a lifetime ago with the key events for Big Tech in italics:
October 4, 2001 - the Bush II Administration authorizes the National Security Agency to collect communications data including telephone and internet records in bulk with at least one communicant being located outside of the United States. This program known as STELLARWIND ended in 2011.
October 24, 2001 - The Patriot Act is passed in Congress with overwhelming support from both sides. The Act authorizes sweeping powers for Washington to surveil Americans and became the open door for Big Tech to become the brokers of our personal data.
November 2002 - Congress passes the Homeland Security Act which creates the Department of Homeland Security with the mission to "protect the American homeland" against "invisible enemies". DHS began operations in March 2003.
July 10, 2008 - George W Bush signs the FISA Amendments Act into law with Section 702 requiring technology and telecommunications companies to provide the U.S. government with access to personal emails and communications. The NSA received access to Microsoft servers in September 2007, Google in
January 2009, Facebook in June 2009, YouTube in 2010 and Apple in October 2012. The Act was reauthorized in 2012 and 2018.
July 2010 - Google launches its cloud application suite which passes federal certification to handle sensitive material.
June 2011 - Amazon signs its first contract with the Department of Defense.
August 2011 - the Obama Administration introduces strategies for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) which has been used to spy on Muslim communities.
January 2016 - Obama meets with Big Tech executives to address anti-terrorism measures on their platforms.
March 2016 - Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is appointed to chair the Defense Innovation Advisory Board to bring Silicon Valley innovation to the United States military.
2017 - Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube form the Global Internet forum to Counter Terrorism.
October 2019 - Microsoft is awarded a $10 billion 10-year cloud computing contract with the Pentagon called Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure or JEDI, beating out Amazon.
May 2020 - the Department of Homeland Security launches its Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention program as a rebooting of pre-existing CVE programs.
March 2021 - Microsoft is awarded a $22 billion contract to supply the United States Army with augmented reality headsets.
May 2021 - the Department of Homeland Security launches the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships as a rebooting of the CVE program.
July 2021 - the Pentagon cancels the $10 billion JEDI contract awarded in Microsoft (thanks to legal challenges by Amazon) and moves toward a contract which will include multiple Big Tech companies.
August 2021 - as United States forces abandon Afghanistan, the Biden Administration announces that they are developing "over-the-horizon" capabilities which will allow Washington to respond to any regional threats to its assets in area.
With this background, let's look at the bottom line, how much Big Tech benefitted from its close relationship with Washington over the GWoT. According to the study, Amazon, Google, Microsot, Twitter and Facebook have made tens of billions of dollars from contracts signed with the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. Here are some details from the three largest beneficiaries with contract data being sourced from Tech Inquiry's U.S. government contracts explorer and subcontract data from Tech Inquiry's 2020 analysis:
1.) Amazon:
Department of Defense - $1,014,161,438.61
Department of Homeland Security - $77,907,156.72
Department of Justice - $27,606,234.89
Department of Justice FBI only - $415,305.25
Department of State - $4,757,563.17
2.) Google:
Department of Defense - $16,476,230.96
Department of Homeland Security - $2,090,692.69
Department of Justice - $27,606,234.89
Department of Justice FBI only - $3,366,115.88
Department of State - $4,712,221.83
3.) Microsoft:
Department of Defense - $42,719,199,701.48
Department of Homeland Security - $266,580,844.45
Department of Justice - $107,078,983.93
Department of Justice FBI only - $10,177,874.78
Department of State - $248,380,010.78
In closing, here is an interesting graphic showing federal contacts with all three of these companies:
Thanks to the unfettered generosity of American taxpayers (after all, it is taxpayers who are funding these programs), a system of technology capitalism has been created. It is very obvious that the Global War on Terror's reliance on data-intensive surveillance has paid off very well for the players in the Big Tech sector which has profited very nicely by collecting our personal data which is then sold to third parties including governments and police forces among others. With the recent push to define and punish so-called "domestic terrorists", one can only imagine how much the Big Tech sector will benefit from this program which seeks to demonize just about any American with a pulse who should happen to fall on the wrong side of any given issue in the opinion of the powers that ought not to be.
I do not understand the distinction between the MIC and Big Tech. They all seem part of the MIC. Or 'war profiteers' if you prefer. Military drones, Meals ready to eat, or Cloud storage are all fattening on the same crazy budget.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. They are all part of Big Defense or, as you noted "war profiteers". Unfortunately, given Washington's penchant for $$$$$, they have a great deal of influence over its never-ending war footing.
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