Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 20.8.26: The defense revolving-door, Silicon Valley edition

Posted: 20th August 2026

August 20, 2026

The Bulletin’s new interactive tool serves an eye-opening glimpse at the links between two congressional committees and more than 100 defense contractors, consultants, and lobbyists.

The defense revolving-door, Silicon Valley edition

Annual US defense expenditures now approach $1 trillion—and could head toward $1.5 trillion in the coming fiscal year. How did we get here? One factor is the stream of national service officials who take positions at private military contractors and lobbying firms, writes John Mecklin, the Bulletin’s outgoing editor-in-chief, in his last article in this position.

A new interactive tool from the Bulletin illustrates one piece of the defense revolving door as it has evolved over the last decade: former congressional officials that have wound up working not just at the largest defense contractors, but also for a new class of Silicon Valley firms that has aggressively expanded its Pentagon contracting efforts. Read more.

VIRTUAL EVENT RECORDING

Nuclear History: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the stories we must never forget

On Tuesday, the Bulletin hosted a virtual discussion between Donald Rosenfeld, Mitchie Takeuchi, and moderator Alex Wellerstein on how to tell the stories of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The recording is available to watch here.

AI helped me (almost) build a killer drone

In case you missed it: when Matt Smith asked four different chatbots if they could help him build a lethal, autonomous drone, they all obliged. But as Smith writes, the process was “stranger than expected.” This article is a collaboration between the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and Mother Jones. Read more and watch the video.

Upcoming event

Chinese nuclear weapons, 2026

“China is believed to have the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal among the nine nuclear-armed states,” writes the staff of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project. What is the status of the Chinese nuclear arsenal today? Read more.

The AI Power Trip

The Bulletin’s year-long investigative project on the rise of artificial intelligence has ended. You can read the whole collection on our website, from investigations of Silicon Valley military contractors, to analyses of AI’s impact on everything from democracy to the electric grid. This project was generously supported by the Future of Life Institute. Read more.

The Bulletin is hiring

The Bulletin is searching for an Advancement Services Coordinator, as well as two Bulletin editorial fellows, to cover the areas of biosecurity and disruptive technologies/AI. Learn more about these positions here.

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