WSJ News Exclusive | Pentagon Veteran Michael Brown Joins Early-Stage Venture Firm Shield Capital

He was director of the Defense Innovation Unit, a branch of the Pentagon that aims to identify and accelerate the adoption of technologies built in Silicon Valley that would enhance the military’s capabilities. During his four years leading the DIU, Mr. Brown said he worked to ease the historically cumbersome process startups faced in getting a contract to sell to the military. The Defense Department struck deals to adopt 50 new technology capabilities during his time there, he said.

“We need the tech being developed by the commercial world,” said Mr. Brown.

National-security officials say the conflict in Ukraine and competition with China have highlighted the need for more sophisticated drones, satellites and advanced chips—technology largely built in Silicon Valley. This has broadened the opportunities for startups to sell their technology outside of the commercial sector, pushed the Pentagon to be a more accommodating customer and drawn greater interest from venture capitalists in a sector they haven’t traditionally embraced as enthusiastically as business software or consumer apps.

Secretary of State

Antony Blinken

is in Silicon Valley this week as part of an outreach effort to get technology firms more involved in some of the world’s top national-security challenges and drum up more tech-industry support for State Department cybersecurity initiatives, The Wall Street Journal reported. Last week, the Biden administration released its national-security strategy, a blueprint that largely codified the approach of investing more in U.S. technological competitiveness to constrain China.

Mr. Brown, who was chief executive of cybersecurity company Symantec Corp. before joining the government, helped bring attention to the national-security implications of China’s tech transfer, including through the funding of U.S. tech startups. In 2017, he co-wrote a Pentagon paper that cautioned Chinese investors had access to the “crown jewels” of the U.S. and opportunities to steal that technology through their venture-capital investments.

The war in Ukraine brought into public view the importance of commercial technology in modern battle, and the role Silicon Valley companies can play, said Mr. Brown. Large U.S. tech firms such as

Microsoft Corp.

and

Alphabet Inc.’s

Google unit have been sharing cyber insights with Kyiv and the public about suspected Russian hackers.

Elon Musk’s

SpaceX has been providing satellite internet access, U.S. mapping and imagery technologies have helped Ukraine’s defense, and U.S. drone startups have provided drone technology for surveillance and defense. Tech companies have sometimes faced internal resistance to selling their products to the military from employees who don’t want their work used in war, but venture capitalists say such resistance has eased in light of recent conflicts.

The technology arms race with China has created a zeitgeist shift in Silicon Valley as more investors and founders see defense technology as essential to the country’s competitiveness with Beijing, said

Raj Shah,

managing partner at Shield Capital, Air Force veteran and Mr. Brown’s predecessor at DIU.

“There will be greater investment by the government, greater investment by big corporations,” Mr. Shah said. “This is a very fertile place for new companies to be built.”

Shield Capital is a Silicon Valley newcomer that got its start last year with a $140 million fund for early-stage startups building artificial-intelligence, space-exploration, autonomous-driving and cybersecurity technology. The firm also said on Tuesday that, alongside Mr. Brown, it has added John Jack, an industry executive who ran software companies, as a new venture partner.

Write to Heather Somerville at [email protected]