The Pentagon\u2019s $10 billion JEDI cloud contract bidding process has drawn a lot of attention. Earlier this month, Google withdrew, claiming ethical considerations. Amazon\u2019s Jeff Bezos responded in an interview at Wired25 that he thinks that it\u2019s a mistake for big tech companies to turn their back on the U. S. military. Microsoft president Brad Smith agrees. [\u2026] The Pentagon\u2019s $10 billion JEDI cloud contract bidding process has drawn a<\/b>
\nThe Pentagon\u2019s $10 billion JEDI cloud contract bidding process has drawn a lot of attention. Earlier this month, Google withdrew, claiming ethical considerations. Amazon\u2019s Jeff Bezos responded in an interview at Wired25 that he thinks that it\u2019s a mistake for big tech companies to turn their back on the U. S. military. Microsoft president Brad Smith agrees.
\u201cFirst, we believe in the strong defense of the United States and we want the people who defend it to have access to the nation\u2019s best technology, including from Microsoft,\u201d Smith wrote in the blog post.
To that end, the company wants to win that JEDI cloud contract, something it has acknowledged from the start, even while criticizing the winner-take-all nature of the deal. In the blog post, Smith cited the JEDI contract as an example of the company\u2019s desire to work closely with the U. S. government.
\u201cRecently Microsoft bid on an important defense project. It\u2019s the DOD\u2019s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud project \u2013 or \u201cJEDI\u201d \u2013 which will re-engineer the Defense Department\u2019s end-to-end IT infrastructure, from the Pentagon to field-level support of the country\u2019s servicemen and women. The contract has not been awarded but it\u2019s an example of the kind of work we are committed to doing,\u201d he wrote.
He went on, much like Bezos, to wrap his company\u2019s philosophy in patriotic rhetoric, rather than about winning lucrative contracts. \u201cWe want the people of this country and especially the people who serve this country to know that we at Microsoft have their backs. They will have access to the best technology that we create,\u201d Smith wrote.
Microsoft president Brad Smith. Photo: Riccardo Savi\/Getty Images
Throughout the piece, Smith continued to walk a fine line between patriotic duty to support the U. S. military, while carefully conceding that there will be different opinions in a large and diverse company population (some of whom aren\u2019t U. S. citizens). Ultimately, he believes that it\u2019s critical that tech companies be included in the conversation when the government uses advanced technologies.
\u201cBut we can\u2019t expect these new developments to be addressed wisely if the people in the tech sector who know the most about technology withdraw from the conversation,\u201d Smith wrote.
Like Bezos, he made it clear that the company leadership is going to continue to pursue contracts like JEDI, whether it\u2019s out of a sense of duty or economic practicality or a little of both \u2014 whether employees agree or not.<\/p>\n

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Sentiment rank: 0.8<\/div>\n

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