image transcript (via tesseract-ocr)
SECRETARY OF WAR
1000 DEFENSE PENTAGON
WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1000
DEC - 9 2025
MEMORANDUM FOR ALL DEPARTMENT OF WAR PERSONNEL
SUBJECT: Harness Artificial Intelligence Now with GenAl
I am pleased to introduce GenAl.mil, a secure generative artificial intelligence (Al) platform for every member of the Department of War. It is live today and available on the desktops of all military personnel, civilians, and contractors. With this launch we are taking a giant step toward mass Al adoption across the Department. This tool marks the beginning of a new era where every member of our workforce can be more efficient and impactful.
The first GenAl platform capability is Google Gemini, a frontier Al application that can help you write documents, ask questions, conduct deep research, format content, and unlock new possibilities across your daily workflows. Gemini is the first of several enterprise Al applications that will be rolled out on the GenAI platform. It is secure, certified up to Impact Level 5 (ILS), and is fully authorized to handle CUI.
Victory belongs to those who embrace real innovation. Rather than being reliant on the dusty, antiquated systems of a bygone era, we are thinking ahead here in the Department of War. GenAl.mil is part of this monumental transformation. It removes wasted time and focuses more of our energy into decisive results for the warfighter.
Access is straightforward. Navigate to GenAl.mil and you will be able to access the tool with your CAC. The platform is certified secure for operational use on NIPR.
I expect every member of the Department to log in, learn it, and incorporate it into your workflows immediately. Al should be in your battle rhythm every single day.
It should be your teammate. By mastering this tool, we will outpace our adversaries. The power is now in your hands.
memo via https://xcancel.com/kenklippenstein/status/1998829304856068344
My guess is that since Russia invaded Ukraine there have been a lot of Americans and other NATO people spending time in Ukraine, teaching and training. Most of it is probably done in a quiet, plausibly deniable way. Like, former soldiers hired through a private foundation that has a secret donor list. It would be very cheap for NATO countries to do, and it could be very effective. Even if countries can’t get their public to agree to ship weapons to Ukraine, European leaders almost certainly know that Russia is a major threat, and as soon as it defeats Ukraine that threat will be aimed at them. A small investment now to keep Ukraine fighting means less needs to be spent later if Russia wins.
Anyhow, my point is that that’s one of the few modern conflicts where there are near-peer forces fighting each-other. In the earliest days of the invasion Russia’s advantage over Ukraine might have been as big as the US advantage over Iraq. But, since then with training, arms, ammunition and tech from NATO countries, Ukraine is probably on par with Russia in some ways, and ahead of them in others, though still way behind in total manpower. Because of that, I think it’s one of the few conflicts where the conflict won’t simply be decided by the side with the newest tech or the side with the biggest army. Instead it’s one where disrupting the opposition’s surveillance, analysis, planning and execution can have the greatest impact.
The Ukrainians received a lot of training from our side prior to the current conflict. One example being OP UNIFIER which was the CAF contribution that trained the Ukrainian Forces.
I think a big advantage that the Ukrainians have currently is that the western/NATO battle doctrine encourages (theoretically) initiative and action at all rank levels whilst the Russian doctrine seems to require strict obedience to hierarchy. Something that was trained into us was “if you have no idea what to do next, win the war/act decisively”.
What do you think might be some good steps for Ukraine after the conflict and if they are victorious? I think one of the areas that Ukraine was definitely lacking in at the outset was their Naval forces. I’d suggest that a small professional submarine force would be a good place for them.
Even if Ukraine “wins” the war, they’re in massive trouble. A big fraction of their working-age population is dead or severely injured. A lot of their infrastructure is badly damaged or destroyed. For a short time they’re going to have a niche as one of the few countries that has expertise in fighting a war against a big, modern, well-equipped opponent. Maybe they can find a way to generate money from that. But, if they’re not careful it will just result in Ukrainians emigrating with that expertise to take up consultant type roles in other countries.
I think the last think Ukraine wants to do after a conflict like this is to maintain a large standing military. They can’t afford that either financially, or afford taking prime-age people out of other jobs. So, I think they’re hoping to have a small military and have the UN or NATO take up the slack of defending their borders.
I’d have to agree with you there. War is a most terrible thing and even if you “win” it often is a most costly and painful affair. I think the point you make is correct that it’s likely that NATO or the UN is going to have to enforce some sort of border agreement. Unfortunately, that’s the way things are when you aren’t a super power.
I can see the Ukrainian Forces develop into a very niche specialist outfit, in particular with emphasis on drone warfare. They will obviously have to demob after the cessation of hostilities but they will definitely have a core of good professional fighters.
Thank you so much for the conversation by the way!