OPINION — I lately had a dialog with senior intelligence neighborhood leaders about their want to construct stronger partnerships with private-sector know-how corporations—the so-called “Silicon Valley” ecosystem. They had been asking for recommendation on learn how to have interaction, construct relationships, and in the end set up strategic partnerships.
But the businesses they had been most considering? They had been largely consumer-facing platforms. Innovative, sure—however not mission-aligned. That dialog highlighted a broader, extra basic hole I’ve been fascinated about for a very long time: Why are there no U.S. offensive cyber unicorns?
We definitely have protection contractors who do cyber work—on web site, on contract, embedded with the federal government. And we now have standout cybersecurity corporations like CrowdStrike, Mandiant, and Dragos centered on detection, response, and resilience. But the place are the startups constructing offensive cyber instruments and platforms? Where’s the VC-backed innovation mannequin we’ve seen in drones, hypersonics, and house?
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Companies like Anduril and SpaceX have confirmed that Silicon Valley-style innovation—product-focused, capital-efficient, fast-moving—can thrive within the nationwide safety house. So why hasn’t that method been utilized to offensive cyber? Yes, there are authorized and secrecy constraints. But those self same constraints haven’t stopped industrial corporations from constructing weapons methods or extremely labeled ISR platforms.
Take a take a look at the NatSec100 – a curated checklist of prime protection and nationwide safety startups. You’ll discover corporations engaged on AI, autonomy, sensing, and cybersecurity. But not a single one centered on offensive cyber. Why not?
Shouldn’t we wish the very best minds at CrowdStrike or Mandiant to spin off and construct next-generation offensive platforms? Shouldn’t the DOD and IC be seeding these concepts and constructing an ecosystem that encourages this type of innovation?
I consider we should always.
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