By NYT –
Tech Elite Push Tech Elite for Cabinet Positions
A former top Uber executive to head the Department of Transportation. A former top aide to Peter Thiel to head the Department of Health and Human Services. And a cadre of other tech executives to join Elon Musk at the Department of Government Efficiency.
Such was the wish list for the elite of Silicon Valley at the dawn of the Trump administration. Behind closed doors over the last week, a range of tech leaders have put forth their own brethren in coordinated efforts to try to leave a distinctly Silicon Valley imprint on a cabinet lineup that appears to be open to persuasion.
Much of that power of persuasion has been trained on Mr. Musk. While the world’s richest man is not technically on Mr. Trump’s transition committee, he has become a de facto official of the incoming administration. Vice President-elect JD Vance, who formally serves on the transition committee, also has deep Silicon Valley ties from his former career as a venture capitalist.
(..)
On Thursday, Palmer Luckey, a co-founder of the defense technology start-up Anduril and someone whom Mr. Musk has encouraged to help the Trump administration, was also seen at Mar-a-Lago.
To lead the Department of Transportation, tech leaders have pushed Emil Michael, who was the No. 2 executive at Uber, the ride-hailing company, in its early years. Several Silicon Valley executives close to Mr. Michael have recommended him to Trump transition officials in recent days, five people with knowledge of the conversations said. Those conversations are in their early stages and other candidates are in the mix for the agency, two of the people said.
Mr. Michael is no stranger to Washington. During the Obama administration, he served as a White House fellow and special assistant to Robert Gates at the Department of Defense from 2009 to 2011. He has also worked at tech companies like TellMe Networks and Klout. Mr. Michael was reportedly considered for the secretary of transportation job during the first Trump transition effort in 2016.
At Uber, he was chief operating officer under its former chief executive, Travis Kalanick. The two raised billions of dollars and grew the ride-hailing service globally before they were forced out in 2017 after a series of scandals. Mr. Michael and his allies have publicly defended his time at Uber. Mr. Michael could not be reached for comment.
(..)
“This administration will make key decisions on the rules — or lack of rules — that will shape the future of key technologies like artificial intelligence and crypto,” Adam Sterling, assistant dean at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, said in an interview. “It makes sense that tech and V.C. leaders would want to lead, or be a key part of, those decisions.”
Some tech leaders have privately shared that they find the opportunity to join the administration so alluring that they are willing to quit their jobs. But others are reluctant to take on full-time positions, lest they have to divest their assets or leave their companies.
That has led to intense interest in roles in the new administration that may not be as onerous or permanent. Some tech executives have scrambled to broker introductions to Mr. Musk to work on his and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency. It is unclear what the workload or requirements will be to join the group.
On Thursday, the Department of Government Efficiency offered something of a brushback pitch to those who saw it as just a plum garden-leave appointment common in the tech industry.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators,” the group wroteon X. “We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting. If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
A similar frenzy has unfolded around a Bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council that Mr. Trump promised to create to develop new regulations for the industry. Crypto executives have raced to get their names in the mix for the council, calling friends and colleagues who have connections to Mr. Trump and his allies.
Jeremy Allaire, the chief executive of the crypto company Circle, said in an interview that he was interested in joining the council. Two other executives, who requested anonymity to describe their plans for career advancement, said they were also personally angling to serve on it, with one of them remarking that he was “harassing everyone I know in the Trump orbit.”
___________________
Abridged from:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/technology/trump-elon-musk-silicon-valley.html
