【By Observer Net, Yuan Jiaqi】

Most of the urgent modernization upgrades needed for the U.S. Army's battlefield communication network are currently being handled by companies with Silicon Valley backgrounds.

On October 3rd local time, a U.S. Army internal memo disclosed by Reuters stated that the battlefield communication system led by Anduril, a manufacturer of military drones and software, and supported mainly by Palantir, a data analytics company, has a large number of "fundamental security" issues and vulnerabilities, and should be classified as "extremely high risk."

According to reports, Anduril recently claimed that its "next-generation command and control communication platform" (NGC2) prototype was already deployed in field tests just eight weeks after winning the contract. According to the introduction, this government contract is worth about $100 million, and the partners include Palantir, Microsoft, and several small contractors.

However, Gabriel Chiulli, the U.S. Army's Chief Technology Officer responsible for authorizing the NGC2 prototype, wrote in an internal memo dated September 5th that his evaluation of the initial product's security was extremely pessimistic.

The core function of NGC2 is to achieve real-time data connectivity between soldiers, sensors, vehicles, and commanders. However, this memo focusing on the system's security status states, "We cannot control who sees which information, we cannot know what users are doing, and we cannot verify whether the software itself is secure."

Chiulli wrote, "Given the current security status of this platform and the third-party applications it carries, the enemy could potentially gain continuous and undetectable access to the platform, so this system must be considered an extremely high-risk object."

The 4th Infantry Division is the first unit to use NGC2 in live-fire training. Anduril official website

Reuters cited internal documents stating that the memo also pointed out that the system allows any authorized user to access all applications and data, regardless of the user's security clearance level or actual operational needs. Therefore, the memo emphasized, "Any user could access and abuse sensitive" classified information, and the system lacks a logging function to track user activities.

The memo also highlighted other defects, such as the fact that third-party applications carried by the system have not undergone security assessments by the U.S. Army. One application was found to have 25 high-severity code vulnerabilities. Another three applications under review each contain more than 200 vulnerabilities needing assessment.

According to U.S. media reports, Chiulli also wrote sternly in this document, "The Army lacks the visibility and control necessary to ensure the platform's security and integrity. It seems there is a tendency to introduce functions into the system without actual oversight mechanisms or execution processes, which further increases the system's risks."

According to Reuters, this memo was first disclosed by the military media "Breaking Defense," which again sparked criticism that the "fast-moving, break-the-rules" philosophy of Silicon Valley is not suitable for developing critical military equipment. On Friday, Palantir's stock closed down 7.5%. Anduril is not yet listed.

In response, Anduril said that the issues raised in the memo have been resolved within the "normal development process." The company said in a statement sent to Reuters, "This report reflects previous situations, not the current state of the project."

A spokesperson for Palantir said, "No vulnerabilities were found in our platform."

On Friday, when interviewed by Reuters, Chiulli's superior, the U.S. Army's Chief Information Officer, Lionel Garciga, explained that many issues had been resolved within weeks or even days.

"As far as I know, only one application still has some remaining vulnerabilities, and the relevant team is working on fixing them," he added. He also mentioned that open communication with suppliers is crucial.

Garciga also revealed that next week, Palantir's federal cloud service, which the NGC2 system relies on, is expected to receive approval from the U.S. Army for a key authorization called "continuous authority to operate," allowing faster deployment of software updates.

"Breaking Defense" previously reported that NGC2 is the top priority for the U.S. Army's modernization and is expected to be fully deployed across the division by 2026. The 4th Infantry Division has launched a series of so-called "sprint events" aimed at gradually adding features to the system.

The report stated that Chiulli's memo was released ten days before the first "sprint event." He explicitly stated that the "cumulative effect" of the defects made NGC2 look more like a "black box," where the Army could not control which users could perform specific actions or view certain information.

However, U.S. Army officials did not specifically explain how or when the defects mentioned in the memo were fixed. Garciga only said that during an event held on September 15th, NGC2 performed well.

Soon after, Deputy Chief of Staff for Cybersecurity and Network of the U.S. Army, Jeth Rey, also defended it, stating that identifying early defects in the system was part of the unit's expected process. He emphasized that measures have been taken to correct these defects.

He said, "This is a new capability-building project, we identified the risks, and immediately took mitigation measures. For our future work, this is a positive signal. If we can continue to work in this way, and if the existing process is effective, I am satisfied."

Reuters noted that Anduril and Palantir are leaders of a new generation of U.S. defense companies. Both companies aim to use cutting-edge technologies such as drones, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems to drive the transformation of the U.S. military. As Washington increasingly turns to the Silicon Valley-style innovation model to address security threats, the valuations of these two companies have significantly increased during President Trump's tenure.

These two emerging U.S. defense companies have promised to provide lower-cost, more advanced weapons faster than the long-term weapons suppliers of the Pentagon, thus securing many lucrative government contracts.

Recently, Anduril signed a $159 million contract for the initial prototype development phase of a night vision and mixed reality system, which will be part of the "Soldier-Borne Mission Command System" project (SBMC), formerly known as the "Next Generation Integrated Visual Augmentation System" (IVAS).

Palantir signed a $480 million contract to support the development of the AI tool "Maven Project," which can screen and analyze images and sensor data to assist battlefield decision-making.

Anduril and Palantir are not exceptions; the phenomenon of "Silicon Valley AI giants becoming new defense elites" is continuously playing out in the United States.

Just this June, at a ceremony held at the Meade-Henderson Joint Base in Arlington, Virginia, four current and former tech executives from Meta, OpenAI, and Palantir wore combat uniforms and military boots on stage, swearing to "defend America."

The U.S. Army established a special innovation force for these executives. At the ceremony, they were granted the rank of Major in the Army and will serve in a new unit called "Detachment 201," providing advice to the Army on applying emerging technologies in potential future conflicts.

On June 13th local time, a swearing-in ceremony for tech executives affiliated with "Detachment 201" was held at the Meade-Henderson Joint Base in Arlington. Video screenshot from the Department of Defense's "Defense Visual Information Service" (DVIDS) website

U.S. media, the New York Times, pointed out that this scene indicates that the relationship between Silicon Valley, the global center of technology, and the U.S. military is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Once the "anti-war pioneers," Silicon Valley tech giants are undergoing a major role shift.

The article points out that this transformation marks an important turning point in Silicon Valley culture. For a long time, Silicon Valley has actively kept distance from the defense industry, raising slogans such as "connecting the world" and "not doing evil," promising that their technology would not be used for military purposes. But now, this attitude has been completely reversed. In the past two years, Silicon Valley's leaders and investors have jumped headlong into the military industrial wave.

The U.S. media believes that this marks the beginning of a new era—a time of accelerated integration of technology, capital, and military power.

The New York Times mentioned that in April this year, President Trump issued an executive order requiring the military to update its system for procuring new technology. His proposed domestic policy bill allocated a record $1 trillion budget for the defense sector in 2026, covering the research and procurement of technologies such as autonomous drones. Silicon Valley executives and venture capitalists are eyeing this huge profit.

However, some tech company executives and engineers are deeply concerned about the potential dangers behind the transformation.

Three engineers from Google and Meta told U.S. media that once they develop autonomous drones and AI weapons for the military, they would have almost no control over how these technologies are deployed afterward. The possibility of advanced weapons causing more casualties has also made them feel ethically uneasy about their involvement in the development.

Margaret O'Mara, a technology historian at the University of Washington, lamented, "These Silicon Valley companies are competing fiercely, and in their rush to enter the defense sector, they rarely stop to think about the potential risks."

This article is an exclusive contribution from Observer Net, and unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7557370643067503113/

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