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Google inks deal with Defense Department to help respond to cyberthreats

The contract is for "seven figures," Google says.

Richard Nieva Former senior reporter
Richard Nieva was a senior reporter for CNET News, focusing on Google and Yahoo. He previously worked for PandoDaily and Fortune Magazine, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, on CNNMoney.com and on CJR.org.
Richard Nieva
2 min read
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Google announced a new deal with the Pentagon.

James Martin/CNET

Google on Wednesday said it had struck a deal with the US Department of Defense to build cloud technology designed to detect and respond to cyberthreats. Google declined to disclose the terms of the deal but said the sum was in the "seven figures."

The contract is through the Defense Innovation Unit, a group within the Pentagon that scales commercial technology through the entire department. Axios earlier reported the news.

The deal comes despite blowback for other work Google has done with the military. Two years ago, workers at the search giant protested Google's contract with the Pentagon for Project Maven, an initiative that uses artificial intelligence to improve analysis of drone footage. Thousands of workers signed a petition opposing the contract, and a handful of employees resigned in protest.

Google said it wouldn't renew the Project Maven contract, and CEO Sundar Pichai released a set of ethical principles for the company's AI work. The guidelines said the company wouldn't develop AI for weapons but would still pursue contracts with the military. Later that year, Google said it dropped out of bidding for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, a $10 billion cloud computing deal for the Pentagon.

Google said its new deal would provide the Defense Department with virtual firewalls and more-controlled access to managed and unmanaged apps in the cloud. 

The contract also comes as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who left his post as a technical advisor to Google parent Alphabet in February, steps up his work with the military. He chairs the Defense Innovation Board, an advisory group aimed at bringing new technology to the Pentagon, including advancements in machine learning. He's also chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which advises Congress on AI for defense.