https://nytimes.blog/google-wants-to-work-with-the-pentagon-again-despite-employee-concerns/ Press "Enter" to skip to content Search Search The New York Times [ ] [Search] * U.S. * International * Canada * Espanol * Zhong Wen * * * The Newyork Times November 3, 2021 open menu Back * Home * Worldopen menu + Americas + Africa + Asia Pacific + Europe + Middle East * Newsopen menu + Politics + Business News + Tech News + Health News + Sports News * Business * Tech * Health * Arts * Real Estate * Sports * Travel * Today's Paper Google Wants to Work With the Pentagon Again, Despite Employee Concerns November 3, 2021 Business News [merlin_146] Three years after an employee revolt forced Google to abandon work on a Pentagon program that used artificial intelligence, the company is aggressively pursuing a major contract to provide its technology to the military. The company's plan to land the potentially lucrative contract, known as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, could raise a furor among its outspoken work force and test the resolve of management to resist employee demands. In 2018, thousands of Google employees signed a letter protesting the company's involvement in Project Maven, a military program that uses artificial intelligence to interpret video images and could be used to refine the targeting of drone strikes. Google management caved and agreed to not renew the contract once it expired. The outcry led Google to create guidelines for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, which prohibit the use of its technology for weapons or surveillance, and hastened a shake-up of its cloud computing business. Now, as Google positions cloud computing as a key part of its future, the bid for the new Pentagon contract could test the boundaries of those A.I. principles, which have set it apart from other tech giants that routinely seek military and intelligence work. The military's initiative, which aims to modernize the Pentagon's cloud technology and support the use of artificial intelligence to gain an advantage on the battlefield, is a replacement for a contract with Microsoft that was canceled this summer amid a lengthy legal battle with Amazon. Google did not compete against Microsoft for that contract after the uproar over Project Maven. The Pentagon's restart of its cloud computing project has given Google a chance to jump back into the bidding, and the company has raced to prepare a proposal to present to Defense officials, according to four people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. In September, Google's cloud unit made it a priority, declaring an emergency "Code Yellow," an internal designation of importance that allowed the company to pull engineers off other assignments and focus them on the military project, two of those people said. On Tuesday, the Google cloud unit's chief executive, Thomas Kurian, met with Charles Q. Brown, Jr., the chief of staff of the Air Force, and other top Pentagon officials to make the case for his company, two people said. Google, in a written statement, said it is "firmly committed to serving our public sector customers" including the Defense Department, and that it "will evaluate any future bid opportunities accordingly." The contract replaces the now-scrapped Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, the Pentagon cloud computing contract that was estimated to be worth $10 billion over 10 years. The exact size of the new contract is unknown, although it is half the duration and will be awarded to more than one company, not to a single provider like JEDI. It is unclear whether the work, which would provide the Defense Department access to Google's cloud products, would violate Google's A.I. principles, although the Defense Department has said the technology is expected to support the military in combat. But Pentagon rules about outside access to sensitive or classified data could prevent Google from seeing exactly how its technology is being used. The Defense Department said it would seek proposals from a limited set of companies that could meet its requirements. "As this is an active acquisition, we cannot provide any additional information related to this effort," said Russell Goemaere, a spokesman for the department. After a late start in selling its cloud computing technology to other organizations, Google has struggled to close the gap with Amazon and Microsoft, which have the two biggest cloud computing businesses. To bring in more big customers, Google hired Mr. Kurian, a longtime executive at the software company Oracle, to take over the business in 2018. He has beefed up the size of Google's sales staff and pushed the company to compete aggressively for new contracts, including military deals. But Google employees have continued to resist some work pursued by the cloud unit. In 2019, they protested the use of artificial intelligence tools for the oil and gas industry. A year later, the company said it would not build custom A.I. software for the extraction of fossil fuels. Google started working on Project Maven in 2017 and prepared to bid for JEDI. Many Google employees believed Project Maven represented a potentially lethal use of artificial intelligence, and more than 4,000 workers signed a letter demanding that Google withdraw from the project. Soon after, Google announced a set of ethical principles that would govern its use of artificial intelligence. Google would not allow its A.I. to be used for weapons or surveillance, said Sundar Pichai, its chief executive, but would continue to accept military contracts for cybersecurity and search-and-rescue. Several months later, Google said it would not bid on the JEDI contract, although it was unlikely that the company had a shot at landing the deal: The Maven experience had soured the relationship between Google and the military, and Google lacked some of the security certifications needed to handle classified data. Google's cloud business recently has done other work with the military. Since last year, Google has signed contracts with the U.S. Air Force for using cloud computing for aircraft maintenance and pilot training, as well as a U.S. Navy contract for using artificial intelligence to detect and predict the maintenance needs of facilities and vessels. Some Google workers believed the new contract would not violate the principles, a person familiar with the decision said, because the contract would enable generic uses of its cloud technology and artificial intelligence. The principles specifically state Google will not pursue A.I. that can be applied in "weapons or those that direct injury." Lucy Suchman, a professor of anthropology of science and technology at Lancaster University whose research focuses on the use of technology in war, said that with so much money at stake, it is no surprise Google might waver on its commitment. "It demonstrates the fragility of Google's commitment to staying outside the major merger that's happening between the D.O.D. and Silicon Valley," Ms. Suchman said. Google's efforts come as its employees are already pushing the company to cancel a cloud computing contract with the Israeli military, called Project Nimbus, that provides Google's services to government entities throughout Israel. In an open letter published last month by The Guardian, Google employees called on their employer to cancel the contract. The Defense Department's effort to transition to cloud technology has been mired in legal battles. The military operates on outdated computer systems and has spent billions of dollars on modernization. It turned to U.S. internet giants in the hope that the companies could quickly and securely move the Defense Department to the cloud. In 2019, the Defense Department awarded the JEDI contract to Microsoft. Amazon sued to block the contract, claiming that Microsoft did not have the technical capabilities to fulfill the military's needs and that former President Donald J. Trump had improperly influenced the decision because of animosity toward Jeff Bezos, Amazon's executive chairman and the owner of The Washington Post. In July, the Defense Department announced that it could no longer wait for the legal fight with Amazon to resolve. It scrapped the JEDI contract and said it would be replaced with the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability. The Pentagon also noted that Amazon and Microsoft were the only companies that likely had the technology to meet its needs, but said it would conduct market research before ruling out other competitors. The Defense Department said it planned to reach out to Google, Oracle and IBM. But Google executives believe they have the capability to compete for the new contract, and the company expects the Defense Department to tell it whether it will qualify to make a bid in the coming weeks, two people familiar with the matter said. The Defense Department has previously said it hopes to award a contract by April. 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Governor's Race [murphy-narrowly-wins-n-j-governors-race-3] Murphy Narrowly Wins N.J. Governor's Race + New York Philip D. Murphy was re-elected governor of New Jersey by a slimmer than expected margin, becoming the first Democrat in more than four decades to win a second term in the state.But his narrow victory showed just how divided the state was over his tough policies to control the spread of the coronavirus and as his liberal agenda on taxation, climate change and racial equity.Mr. Murphy held a slight lead over his Republican challenger, Jack Ciattarelli, with some votes left to be tallied, according to The Associated Press, which called the race on Wednesday after a protracted count. Most of the outstanding votes were in heavily Democratic areas of the state.Mr. Murphy, 64, a wealthy former Goldman Sachs executive and ambassador to Germany, campaigned largely on his first-term record and his unabashedly liberal approach to governing a state where there are nearly 1.1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans.Mr. Murphy's narrow victory in New Jersey -- and a key loss in the Virginia governor's race -- were likely to be interpreted as ominous signs for Democrats hoping to move President Biden's ambitious domestic agenda across the finish line and retain a slim majority in Congress during next year's midterm elections.In Virginia, the Republican, Glenn Youngkin, defeated his Democratic challenger for governor, Terry McAuliffe, who was trying to retake the office he vacated four years ago.In New Jersey, where voters had not re-elected a Democratic governor since 1977, it was not clear what Mr. Murphy's final margin of victory would be once counting was complete. But it was certain to be less than recent polls had suggested, and far less than other Democratic victories in the state in recent years.Early Wednesday morning, both candidates took the stages at their election-night parties to tell supporters that the results of the contest would not be clear until all provisional and vote-by-mail ballots were counted."We're all sorry that tonight could not yet be the celebration that we wanted it to be," said Mr. Murphy, surrounded by his family in Asbury Park's Convention Hall. "But as I said: When every vote is counted -- and every vote will be counted -- we hope to have a celebration again."Mr. Ciattarelli, 59, said much the same thing, but appeared far more relaxed after significantly outperforming every public opinion poll conducted during the campaign in a state Mr. Biden won by 16 points."We have sent a message to the entire country," Mr. Ciattarelli told supporters gathered in Bridgewater. "This is what I love about this state, if you study its history: Every single time it's gone too far off-track, the people of this state have pushed, pulled and prodded it right back to where it needs to be."In New Jersey, the defining issue of the campaign was the pandemic, which has killed about 28,000 residents, hobbled much of the region's economy and disrupted the education of 1.3 million public school students.Mr. Murphy was one of the last governors to repeal an indoor mask mandate and among the first to require teachers to be vaccinated or submit to regular testing. Mr. Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman, made Mr. Murphy's strict pandemic edicts a centerpiece of his campaign. The Republican opposed coronavirus vaccine mandates and mandatory masking in schools, and he blamed Mr. Murphy's lockdown orders for hurting small businesses and keeping students out of school for too long.In the end, more voters appeared to support the approach taken by Mr. Murphy, a darling of the liberal wing of his party who in his first term established New Jersey as one of the most progressive states in the nation.In four years, he locked in a deal to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15, raised the tax rate on income over $1 million and authorized a change to land-use rules that would require builders to factor in climate change, including rising sea levels and emissions levels, to win government approval for contracts.The state cracked down on so-called ghost guns, legalized marijuana, made community college free for students in households with incomes of less than $65,000, restored voting rights to people on probation or parole, and authorized driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. Results trickled in slowly on Tuesday from Democratic strongholds like Essex and Passaic Counties, skewing the early totals and making it clear that the race would be far tighter than expected.Updated Nov. 3, 2021, 5:06 p.m. ETMr. Murphy will start his second term facing pronounced challenges. New Jersey's unemployment rate of roughly 7 percent is one of the nation's highest, and school districts are only now beginning to assess the pandemic's true toll on learning, particularly in the state's large cities, where many schools were closed for more than a year.Democrats are expected to retain control of the State Legislature, but did appear to be on track to losing several seats."We have come a long way," Mr. Murphy said at a campaign stop Tuesday in Newark. "But our work is not done. We have to keep moving forward."The governor has promised to continue trying to codify abortion rights in New Jersey should federal protections be altered and to strengthen the state's already stringent gun laws. Neither effort has gained traction in the Legislature, where moderate Democrats continue to hold sway, reflecting some of the rifts in the party as a whole.Mr. Ciattarelli, who competed in 2017 for the Republican nomination for governor, ran a well-funded campaign that hammered away at a central Wall Street-versus-Main Street theme.At campaign stops over the last week, he displayed a Boston Bruins jersey emblazoned with Mr. Murphy's name as he reminded supporters of the governor's Massachusetts roots and his white-shoe investment banking pedigree.As Mr. Murphy appeared side-by-side with a stream of Democratic luminaries, including Mr. Biden and former President Barack Obama, Mr. Ciattarelli stumped at veterans halls and diners.With the timing of a comedian, Mr. Ciattarelli, a forceful speaker who commanded the stage at each of the two debates, drew easy laughs.Takeaways From the 2021 ElectionsCard 1 of 5Democratic panic is rising. Less than a year after taking power in Washington, the party faces a grim immediate future as it struggles to energize voters and continues to lose messaging wars to Republicans."If you want to stick it in Joe Biden's -- er -- ear," Mr. Ciattarelli told a crowd gathered Thursday in Edison, N.J., "beat Phil Murphy."He highlighted issues like high taxes and the extraordinary Covid-19 death rate in New Jersey nursing homes."Phil Murphy killed 8,000+ grandparents," stark black-and-white campaign signs planted along roadways stated, without mentioning Mr. Ciattarelli's name.But throughout the race Mr. Ciattarelli also struck chords likely to resonate most with voters who supported former President Donald J. Trump in New Jersey's few remaining Republican strongholds.He opposes most abortions after 20 weeks, and said parents should be notified if their underage daughters sought to end their pregnancies. He appeared among Trump supporters at a "stop the steal" rally and railed against teaching critical race theory, which argues that patterns of racism are ingrained in American institutions, or a curriculum that highlighted L.G.B.T.Q. pioneers."We're not teaching sodomy in sixth grade," Mr. Ciattarelli told supporters in June.Four public polls released in the last week found that Mr. Murphy had maintained a comfortable lead in New Jersey.But as Election Day drew nearer, the ghost of 2009 began to haunt conversations.Strategists recalled the Democratic loss in Virginia that year and the Republican Chris Christie's victory over then-Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey -- both of which were seen as precursors to the 2010 midterm rout for Democrats, which Mr. Obama memorably called a "shellacking."At a Thursday night get-out-the-vote rally with Mr. Murphy at Rutgers University, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont warned an enthusiastic crowd of students that turnout was likely to be low -- and that every vote mattered."Let us win this election," he said. "Let us win it in landslide proportions."In the final days of the race, LeRoy J. Jones Jr., chairman of New Jersey's Democratic State Committee, predicted that turnout in the off-year election was "going to be a challenge."The campaign, he said, was aware that the race's results would send a signal nationwide about the relative strength of the Democratic Party and voter support for its legislative priorities, leading to a "sense of nervousness.""Does this outcome have consequences for the rest of the country?" Mr. Jones said. "Absolutely it does."Analilia Mejia, a longtime Democratic organizer who ran the New Jersey Working Families Alliance before taking over as political director of Mr. Sanders's presidential campaign, said strategists were "understandably cautious" as Election Day approached."We are hella motivated," Ms. Mejia said last week. "Otherwise you wouldn't have Obama, Biden and Sanders come out to New Jersey within 10 days of each other."The 2020 presidential election was held predominantly using mail-in ballots to limit the spread of the coronavirus. But this year, for the first time, voters in New Jersey were also able to cast ballots early on machines.Roughly 208,000 of the state's 6.5 million voters took advantage of the nine-day early voting window that included four weekend days,... 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