![]() The Department of Defense and its private sector offshoots are “obsessed” with fantasy worlds like that depicted in Star Wars because they serve a particular propagandistic purpose. “It’s no secret we’re a little obsessed with #StarWars,” jokes the DDS account on Twitter.īut this isn’t your ordinary fandom. Star Wars characters in full cosplay show up to their events. Rebellion Defense has a mural of light sabers in its office, which is reportedly littered with Star Wars collectibles. They name every team, project, office, conference room, contract, and software application after a Star Wars reference. Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt is a board member, and the company’s valuation is over $1 billion (although it may be struggling to live up to that price tag).īy the looks of it, DDS and Rebellion Defense are Star Wars superfans. Many DDS employees, including its first leader Chris Lynch, left to found the company Rebellion Defense, which fills DoD contracts to build AI for “battlefield decisions.” The company has referred to itself as “an unconstrained ‘Project Maven’” - the military AI contract that Google dropped after employee protests. The Defense Digital Service (DDS), a DoD team of self-proclaimed “tech experts tackling the DoD’s toughest problems,” unofficially call themselves the “ Rebel Alliance.” Surveillance companies and military contractors Palantir and Anduril are named after The Lord of the Rings. The military and its private sector counterparts increasingly use references to movies like Star Wars and books like The Lord of the Rings to launder their image. In recent decades, the military has landed on another propaganda tool to attract tech talent: nerd fantasy. And they use the debt and hardship of young Americans to make service seem like a good life decision. By providing support to movies like Top Gun in exchange for editorial control, the Department of Defense (DoD) makes military service look adventurous, comradely, and righteous. The American military and its industrial base have a rich history of recruiting through propaganda and manipulation.
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