Mar 13, 2026 · 26m · a16z
Emil Michael: The Department of War Is Moving Faster Than Silicon Valley on AI | The a16z Show
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Under Secretary of War Emil Michael joins host David Ulevitch on The a16z Show to discuss rapid AI adoption, defense procurement reform, and the critical role of Silicon Valley in national security. Michael outlines strategies to transition the Department of Defense from peacetime bureaucracy to wartime agility while asserting sovereign control over military technology.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 3.3 Guest teaching 4.4 Guest disagreement 0.3 The host pushing back 0.1
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 7:41 Reframing missile production with AI
Emil reframes the host's skeptical question about focusing strictly on conventional weapons, pointing out that AI directly solves missile physics and material science problems.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 7:35 Host plays devil's advocate on AI vs traditional munitionsThe host briefly challenges the necessity of AI in national defense by asking why the military cannot simply focus on traditional missile manufacturing.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:58 Revealing legacy contract restrictionsEmil educates the host by revealing specific, previously undisclosed contractual clauses that prevented military commanders from using commercial AI models in strike planning or satellite movements.
The host holds their own ▶ 4:43 Host details Skydio supply chain vulnerabilityThe host demonstrates strong defense industry expertise by detailing how Chinese sanctions against portfolio company Skydio cut off access to vital motor and battery precursor components.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title Sequence: The a16z Show | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | The host warmly welcomes the guest and frames his background as a tech executive and public servant. Emil shares his career background including his White House Fellowship under Secretary Gates. | |
| Transitioning from Peacetime Speed to Wartime Urgency | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | The host demonstrates domain expertise by highlighting Skydio's Chinese sanctions and critical component supply chain bottlenecks. Emil explains the historical shift from peacetime defense consolidation to wartime urgency. | |
| Streamlining Defense Priorities and Scaling AI Adoption | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | The host plays devil's advocate by asking if the Pentagon should focus purely on missiles rather than AI, and adds examples of AI fuel logistics. Emil reframes the question to explain how AI directly enhances missile physics and operational logistics. | |
| Commercial AI Models and Restrictive Pentagon Contracts | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | The host prompts Emil on what triggered recent public debate over Pentagon AI models. Emil reveals astonishing previous contract terms that restricted military planning and created dangerous vendor lock. | |
| Sovereign Command, Military Operations, and Corporate Constitutions | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Emil argues that corporate constitutions cannot override sovereign military command and democratic law, which the host strongly endorses. The conversation remains fully aligned and collaborative. | |
| Democratic Oversight, Civil Liberties, and Adversary Competition | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Emil details adversary competition, noting China uses stolen models without guardrails, and contrasts this with democratic oversight. The host guides the conversation on how frontier lab talent dynamics affect government partnerships. | |
| The American Dynamism Movement and Defense Procurement Reform | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | The host displays expertise connecting Project Maven to the founding of the American Dynamism movement. Emil explains replacing slow cost-plus contracts with simple requirements and firm fixed-price deals. | |
| How Tech Startups Can Scale and Partner with Government | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Emil educates founders on crossing the manufacturing scaling chasm and identifying true government buying signals versus polite praise. The host asks how startups can better partner with the Department of War. | |
| Why Tech Builders Should Serve Their Country | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | The host asks a reflective closing question about why successful tech leaders should consider public service. Emil shares his background as an immigrant and the importance of restoring public service as an honored profession. |
Statements from this episode (20)
Michael: Defense Department is way behind in AI
“We're trending toward artificial general intelligence, a substrate, a layer, something that'll touch everything, but we're way behind in AI at the department.”
Michael: DOD moving at unprecedented pace under Trump and Hegseth
“Then President Trump got elected, and I was like, wow, this is a moment where, you know, you have a disruptor at the top, he chose Secretary Hegsass, and that meant all the problems I'd seen, you know, there'd be a clearer way to solve them, and you could see …”
Michael: China's post-2010 military expansion is the largest in history
“So then we're faced with the biggest military buildup in history in China, starting In the mid two, 2000, like, 2010, and we didn't catch up.”
Ulevitch: Chinese sanctions blocked drone maker Skydio from critical supply chain components
“We work with a company called Skydio, and they were sanctioned by China, and, ah, you know, we usually hear stories about how companies are, you know, sanctioned by the United States from doing business here, but it actually, if you're a company that's an impo…”
Michael: DOD reduced tech priorities to six, making AI top priority
“We got them down to six and there were the places where I thought we had the greatest opportunity for change and for growth and impact on our combat power and for our industrial base. And that was a starting point. An applied AI was number one”
Michael: DOD AI adoption grew from 80k to 1.2M in 90 days
“In 90 days, I think we've had 1.2 million of the three million people at the department. Use some form of AI when that was, that number was 80,000 before I started.”
Michael: DOD has massive repositories of siloed, unused data
“We have a huge repositories of data at the department that's sitting there siloed unused.”
Michael: AI Trained on Satellite Imagery Boosts Analyst Throughput 1,000x
“Imagine decades of satellite imagery that you could use to train a model and get insights and then use that to do anomaly detections. You could find out what's happening. So you take a human analyst and you increase their throughput by a thousand.”
Michael: Inherited Pentagon AI contracts created dangerous vendor lock-in
“Well, they came up now because as I started to look at the contracts that had been written during the last administration for the use of AI. I had a whole, holy cow moment because there were things not well beyond what you've been hearing in the press in the l…”
Michael: AI vendor questioned software use in Maduro raid
“And then second, after the Maduro raid, one of the primary vendor for this had raised the question, senior exec about whether their software was used during the Maduro raid, which is one of the most successful op military, military operations of our lifetime. …”
Michael: DOD diversifying AI vendor base following software terms dispute
“So that set off a series of events of, whoa, are we single-threaded on a vendor who's concerned about how we're using their software after the most successful military raid and the terms of service do not comport with the future world? We've got to get other p…”
Michael: Commercial AI constitutions cannot dictate US military command and control
“It can't, the software, the soul, someone's soul of their model, their constitution, which is not the U S constitution. Can't be dictating our command and control environment and telling generals and war fighters what to do and not do.”
Michael: DOD has long held 40-page directive on autonomous weapons
“We've got 40 page internal directives that have been there for years about autonomous weaponry.”
Michael: Four frontier AI companies rely on pool of 1,000 researchers
“You have four companies that you could call frontier companies, and then you have this sort of major league baseball roster of researchers, like a thousand who they're trading amongst themselves, who, if you ask the leaders of these companies are so incredibly…”
Michael: Google transitioned from avoiding defense work to top government partner
“Google didn't want to bid on the contract. Now Google is a great partner, you know, and so I'd hope some of the newer companies would learn from what Google did, which is, you know, they didn't want to serve the government because that employee mob issues, but…”
Ulevitch: Project Maven controversy sparked the American Dynamism movement
“The Google Project Maven moment in 2018 in many ways as a galvanizing moment to actually wake up a lot of founders and builders and say, hey, wait a minute. I actually do want the government to have the best technology and best capabilities. I do want to build…”
Ulevitch: Project Maven Was Used During Afghanistan Evacuation
“Project Maven was used to make sure that we didn't leave anyone behind in Afghanistan.”
Michael: Defense primes hold advantage in manufacturing, not innovation
“This is just the one thing the primes have an advantage on is not the inventiveness. It's the production and manufacturing ability to scale what they do with what they've initially built.”