With the massive revelations of the Israeli military using AI to target Palestinians in Gaza, I've been surprised by the relative silence of defense-tech world.

For years it's felt like every national-security conversation in Washington and Silicon Valley has been about AI...

Whole think tanks, startups and firms are devoting millions of dollars to military AI.

All of them engage not just in US military contracts but in thought leadership, publishing in journals and hosting symposia.

But where's the conversation now that AI is being used for war?

I'm inside the Park Avenue Armory where Dr. Henry A. Kissinger is keynoting the 78th Alfred E. Smith Dinner.

The gala is famous for its roasts and its A-listers:
Mayor Eric Adams, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Adm. Mike Mullen, Robert Kraft, and many New York luminaries are due to attend. It's going to be a quite an evening.

Dr. Kissinger will deliver remarks around 9pm. At 100, he's older than the dinner, and it's the second time he's been the honoree.

In 1974, he addressed the city's elite as secretary of state. Here's the vintage menu and the seating chart.

When President Biden entered the White House, he hired Brett McGurk to run Middle East policy.

McGurk's stated task was to keep the Middle East off of Biden's desk. His guiding principle: "Back to basics" or "No new projects."

The McGurk approach has wholly, utterly failed. But such thinking still pervades the Biden admin.

Initially, McGurk's deputy was Barbara Leaf, who's now the top Mideast diplomat at State.

She gave a revealing interview last month, describing how they both see the region—largely overlooking Palestine.

A month of sold-out galas featuring 100-year-old Henry Kissinger — at Rice University with Hillary, at the Al Smith Dinner at the Park Ave Armory, and a few blocks over with the McCain Institute (+Eric Schmidt and Bloomberg).

Will you be attending or protesting? Let me know!



It's 2023 and Kissinger's 100, and he still serves as a Biden administration appointee on the influential Defense Policy Board.

Yesterday he keynoted at the Council on Foreign Relations, and he does long-form interviews with the Economist.

I am here outside the New York Public Library, which is holding a 100th birthday party for Henry Kissinger tonight.

The guest list is secret, but I've confirmed that Secretary of State Tony Blinken will attend.

I'll be here on the red carpet, documenting who else shows up. It's curious, perhaps even scandalous, that this event is private -- and closed to the press.

We don't know who is hosting it.

The library passed me on to an event planner who wouldn't comment; neither would Kissinger's team. State Dept didn't reply.

So I'm here to find out...

On domestic policy, Biden has claimed several progressive victories.

But why has Biden's foreign policy been so lackluster?

Let's take a look at Secretary of State Tony Blinken's schedule today—he's speaking at AIPAC, celebrating Kissinger, and then traveling to Saudi Arabia. The way Blinken spends his time reveals a lot about the priorities of the administration.

This morning, Blinken spoke at the policy summit of the Israel advocacy group AIPAC, which has largely stood by Israel's extreme right government.
reuters.com/world/middle-e…

Last night, national security adviser Jake Sullivan delivered a keynote on the Middle East at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy.

It was long and perhaps the clearest articulation yet of a pretty rudderless approach to the Middle East.

Here are 10 points to draw out: 1. The venue is important.

WINEP's origins are linked to the pro-Israel advocacy group AIPAC. It generally takes an anti-Iran and security-focused view.

Note: Sullivan and Biden's people have been giving many policy talks at think tanks—rather than interviews to journalists.

Tonight, senior Trump national security leaders H.R. McMaster and Matt Pottinger will testify to the primetime House Select China Committee.

It would be a mistake to see them only as former officials. They reflect a deeply entrenched interests that won't likely be disclosed. McMaster serves on the boards of venture groups America's Frontier Fund and Shield Capital, which are focused on countering China.

"If the China/Taiwan situation happens, some of our investments could 10x, like overnight," an AFF staffer said recently. vox.com/world/2023/2/7…

New: Why the president of Washington’s most venerable think tank has resigned vox.com/23166516/scand… As one source told me:

It’s amazing the extent to which the DC think tank world has studiously avoided acknowledging the John Allen allegations. Finally we find the one subject nobody is an instant expert on.

Mohammed el Gharani was detained at Guántanamo Bay from 2002 to 2009---"in cages, like a zoo," he says.

At the @NMAAHC, he is speaking now with @OnlyAnExpert about being abducted in Kandahar and then enduring US brutality.

This is how you advocate for human rights through art. He's featured in Laurie Anderson's work Habeas Corpus (2015), now on view at the @hirshhorn.

He's not allowed in the United States, but here he is, "a living statue" in the Smithsonian.
hirshhorn.si.edu/event/in-perso…

Biden has named Puneet Talwar as ambassador to Morocco.

Talwar is a longtime Biden aide — and the 24th consultant from Secretary of State Tony Blinken's boutique advisory firm WestExec to join the administration.

It's an indication of how small Biden's foreign-policy circle is. It's remarkable that a specialty firm launched in 2017, which grew to about 30 consultants, would go on to fill most of Biden's key foreign-policy jobs.

Equally remarkable: how little scrutiny this tight-knit group has gotten.

Here's my running tally of WestExec in Bidenworld

CNN: Here's Richard Burt, former ambassador to Germany, talking about Nord Stream 2

Also CNN: Burt is a partner at lobbying firm McLarty Inbound, which earned $3.5 million from companies investing in Nord Stream 2. Firm only severed ties on Wednesday. cnn.com/2022/02/26/pol… Unfortunately, such disclosures were not made on air.

1. Big tech and the Pentagon are teaming up, and new defense-tech startups are getting more government contracts than ever. I took a close look at Biden’s transition, and all signs show that he's cementing the marriage of Silicon Valley and the military.
prospect.org/power/silicon-… 2. One major player is Google billionaire Eric Schmidt. He has become an influential adviser to the Pentagon and Congress—and he's been pushing artificial intelligence for war.

In 2019, he invested in the startup Rebellion Defense that sells AI to soldiers and spies.

Hi @fdd, where's your coverage of the anniversary of Khashoggi's death, at the hands of the Saudi prince's butchers?

For a "research institute" that claims the mantle of "free nations," this is a pretty revealing omission. @FDD Hi WINEP (@WashInstitute), where are your policy insights and op-eds on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi?

It seems that of your dozens of Mideast-focused fellows, only one has written an article on the anniversary—& it hasn't been tweeted or highlighted on your homepage