I had the distinct pleasure of hosting Trae Stephens and Michael Kratsios on a panel in San Francisco in September on the topic of “Rebuilding the arsenal of democracy.” Trae Stephens is a general partner at Founders Fund and a Co-Founder of Anduril, a defense tech company that specializes in advanced autonomous systems.

Michael Kratsios served as Chief Technology Officer of the United States in the Trump White House. He also served as acting undersecretary of defense, where he was responsible for research and engineering efforts at the Defense Department. These days, he’s managing director of Scale AI.

We discussed:

* What’s wrong with the defense industrial base?

* How can we use tools like the Export-Import Bank to beat China?

* Can cutting Chinese tech out of supply chains hurt American companies?

* Will we see more tech talent in the next administration?

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22. Second Tier Part 2