The first decade of the 21st century saw a significant rise in profits and the emergence of major tech companies in the United States. Companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter became integral to daily life, simultaneously providing tools for the U.S. military and government to aid their so-called War on Terror. Tech giants and the War on Terror
Post-September 11 and the Onset of a New Era
The War on Terror generated an immense and unprecedented demand for technology to support surveillance systems, lethal drones, and virtual border walls.
This surge played a pivotal role in the creation of the data economy and the technology industry as we know it today. Concurrently with the War on Terror, emerging tech companies transformed into trillion-dollar tech giants.
These major tech companies amassed billions of dollars from their contracts with the U.S. military and other government agencies, becoming among the most profitable companies globally.
Since 2001, there has been an increased demand from U.S. military and intelligence agencies for cloud computing services and GPS, as the defense industry has increasingly moved into the digital realm.
The Outcome: Billions in Revenue
As a result, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants earned billions by providing services like cloud computing for data storage and analysis, GPS for cross-border movement tracking, and algorithms to enhance facial recognition technology for global targeting.
From Google selling its AI model to the Department of Defense to make drone strikes more lethal, to Amazon providing cloud services to run the NSA’s surveillance program, the list is extensive with tech giants complicit in this unending war. Tech giants and the War on Terror
Over the past 20 years, these companies have increasingly sought to secure federal contracts and subcontracts with the U.S. military, intelligence, and law enforcement post-September 11, 2001.
The Federal Government’s Growing Dependence
As the War on Terror progressed and big tech companies grew in usage and scope, the federal government increasingly turned to these companies to help implement its policies and strategies.
A Terrifying Doubling of Profits
The number of contracts between the federal government and major tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Twitter has more than doubled since 2004.
From 2007 to 2019, Department of Homeland Security contracts with Silicon Valley giants increased fiftyfold.
Significant Beneficiaries of the Growth
For instance, Amazon and Microsoft greatly benefited from this increase between 2015 and 2019, with Amazon seeing a 400% rise in all federal contracts, while Microsoft enjoyed an 800% increase.
Microsoft obtained $42 billion from contracts with the Pentagon and $267 million from the Department of Homeland Security, with about $108 million from the Department of Justice, mostly with the FBI.
Amazon profited from nearly $1 billion in Pentagon contracts, $77 million from Department of Homeland Security contracts, and about $28 million from the Department of Justice.
Google received $16 million from the Pentagon, $2 million from the Department of Homeland Security, and about $4 million from the Department of Justice.
Despite seeming small, Facebook’s contracts are significant, obtaining about $167,000 from the Pentagon and $363,000 from the Department of Homeland Security.
The Impact of Small Contracts
Even small contracts have a significant impact. For example, just one month after Trump’s third Muslim ban in September 2017, Facebook sold $350,000 in ads to promote the federally funded news outlet “Extremism Watch.”
Considering Facebook is the third most-visited site in the world, with over 2.99 billion monthly active users and 2.04 billion daily active users, $350,000 in ads can influence billions.
Government Spending on Tech Services
Since 2004, five government agencies have spent at least $44.7 billion on services from the aforementioned tech companies.
The Department of Defense was the largest spender ($43.8 billion), followed by the Department of Homeland Security ($348 million), the Department of State ($258 million), the General Services Administration ($244 million), and the Department of Justice.
These agencies, central to foreign policy or directly established due to the War on Terror, are the top spenders on big tech contracts.
With the vast profits to be made from U.S. government contracts, these tech companies have aligned their priorities with those of the United States, whether it relates to national security or the War on Terror. Big tech companies have become a main feature of this war.
The Roots of Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley owes its existence to efforts dating back to World War II and the Cold War, benefiting from military spending and protection from competition in the form of early grants, contracts, and government-supported monopolies.
As a result, technologies that dominate everyday life, from network-connected devices to the semiconductors powering computational operations, are a direct outcome of U.S. policy.
The End of Neutrality
Surveillance technologies like facial recognition and companies like Palantir are examples of this influence in the post-September 11 era, showcasing the non-neutrality of technology as a fundamental component of the post-September 11 system.
Despite big tech’s claims to neutrality, the reality reveals otherwise, as these companies build tools with very specific applications. Since 2004, there has been a significant federal demand for their services, particularly from the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.
Outpacing Traditional Military Contractors
In addition to increasing their contracts with the federal government, big tech companies have also managed to sideline traditional military contractors like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, whose contracts have stabilized or decreased since 2010.
Among the five major tech companies, Microsoft has the closest relationship with the federal government, experiencing a surge in defense contracts during the Trump administration, with contracts nearly sextupling in just two years from 2016 to 2018, with over 81% of all the company’s government contracts since 2011 being with central agencies in the War on Terror.
Google signed more contracts with the Department of Defense than Amazon and Microsoft from 2004 to 2015, mostly for cloud computing services, with 77% of all the company’s government contracts since 2005 being with central agencies in the War on Terror.
During the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019, the Pentagon nearly doubled its contracts with these tech companies, dwarfing the growth in contracts from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and Department of State.
The relations between Microsoft and the Department of Homeland Security saw a tremendous rise in the first two years of the Trump administration, with an increasing demand for more cloud computing infrastructure to support more deportation and family separation operations.
