Microsoft, Amazon CEOs Stand By Defense Work After Google Bails on JEDI

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO Cliff Owen/AP File Photo

The leaders of two contenders for the Pentagon’s JEDI cloud contract sounded off on Google’s decision not to bid.

Google’s decision not to bid for the Pentagon’s $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract drew criticism from the chief executives of two rival tech companies: Amazon and Microsoft.

“One of the jobs of a senior leadership team is to make the right decision even when [it] is unpopular,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said Monday at the WIRED25 summit. “If big tech companies are going to turn their back on the DOD, then this country is going to be in trouble.”

Google announced the decision Oct. 8 in a statement that cited ethical concerns and uncertainty regarding whether it could meet the Pentagon’s security requirements for JEDI. In June, the company opted not to renew an artificial intelligence-based contract—called Project Maven—it held with the Pentagon after its employees voiced opposition to performing work that could be used for lethal purposes.

Bids for JEDI, a hotly contested contract that will put a single cloud provider in charge of caches of secret and top secret military and defense data, were due Oct. 12. On that date, a purported group of anonymous Microsoft employees voiced opposition to the contract through a Medium blog post.

Microsoft bid anyway. Amazon Web Services also bid on the contract, as did IBM and Oracle, who have both filed bid protests against JEDI.

“Microsoft submitted its bid on the JEDI contract on the October 12 deadline. While we don’t have a way to verify the authenticity of this letter, we always encourage employees to share their views with us,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to Nextgov.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shed more light on the company’s thinking as it relates to Google’s decision and other potentially controversial government work in previously unreported remarks from an Oct. 10 appearance at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

“We're an American company and a multinational company. We fundamentally rely on the trust in American values. We fundamentally rely on our form of government to engender trust in everything that we do, not just in the United States but across the world,” Nadella said, responding to a question about Google’s decision posed by a Navy midshipman. “We will have our own committee that will really direct us in terms of what engagements we do or don't do, and especially when it comes to the United States and liberal democracies at large, we will rely on our democratic process and the institutions that we work with and their own ethics as well.”

Nadella said Microsoft has a four-decades-old partnership with the Defense Department and added that the U.S. “armed forces have a fundamental grounding on what it means to deploy any technology or practice which is ethically used.”

Google’s decision to back out of the Pentagon’s Project Maven and JEDI contracts show a broader battle between Silicon Valley companies and the federal government. Last week, one of the top acquisition officials at Customs and Border Protection said political protests against contractors that assist in some Trump administration policies have become a “huge problem.” For example, Salesforce and Palantir have faced protests over contracts with CBP. Such protests cause a politically charged environment that could reduce the flow of ideas and talent from the private sector to government.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.