An inflection point in warfare

Dan Driscoll made his first public appearance since leaving the Trump administration in Kyiv, warning that the world's largest militaries are moving far too slowly.

“have not adopted the speed and the innovation that they need”

Kyiv's software beats ours

Driscoll and Eric Schmidt praised DELTA, a Ukrainian platform that fuses radar, sensor and soldier data into one battlefield picture. Driscoll said it surpasses anything the U.S. military has.

Out-innovate, then crush them

With more processing power and stronger AI, Driscoll argued, Ukraine can move faster than Russia can respond.

“an amazing opportunity for your nation to outrun the Russians, and out-innovate them”

He left over modernization

Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran and former VC, resigned on Aug. 31 amid reported clashes with Pete Hegseth over officer firings and Army modernization. The White House gave no reason.

A phone call, not a contract

When the U.S. found itself short on defenses against Iranian Shahed drones, the fix came from Schmidt's Perennial Autonomy: 13,000 Merops interceptors and 10,000 Bumblebee drones, fast.

“He literally called me and I said, of course, yes.”

300,000 versus 10 million

Zakaria noted the U.S. will buy roughly 300,000 drones this year against Ukraine's 7 million. David Petraeus shouted from the audience that the real Ukrainian number is closer to 10 million.

America is unlearning the lesson

In August the Army phased out the battalion studying Ukrainian drone warfare, and two generals who backed it were pushed out. Driscoll decided he could do more from outside government.

“My highest and best use to make the world a little bit safer at this very scary time was to do it on the outside.”