59Bloomberg Businessweek October 7, 2019
presidentthaninfulfillingthePentagon’senduringneedfor
reliabletechnology.Somecompanies,Stephenssays,have
complicatedthingsforthemselvesbyconcealingordown-
playingtheirdefensework,leavingemployeeswhoareuncom-
fortablewithsuchprojectstofeel,justifiably,thatthey’vebeen
liedto.“Theysaid,‘Wedidn’tsignuptodevelopweapons,’”
Stephenssays.“That’sliterallytheoppositeofAnduril.Wewill
tellcandidateswhentheywalkinthedoor,‘Youaresigning
uptobuildweapons.’”
A
nduril’soriginsdatetoconversationsStephenshadwith
hiscolleaguesatPalantirTechnologiesInc.,a data-analysis
companyThielco-foundedin2004.Theythoughta software
startupfocusedonhigh-techmilitaryapplicationscouldout-
maneuvertraditionalcontractors.Atfirst,accordingtoMatt
Grimm,whospentsevenyearsatPalantirandis nowAnduril’s
chiefoperatingofficer,it wasn’tsomucha planasa bonding
exerciseastheysatinairportloungesorattendedeachother’s
weddings.“It’slikethatidea,‘Hey,weshouldallgocamping
sometime!’Butit doesn’treallyhappen,”hesays.
Palantirexecutiveshadexperiencedthefrustrationsoftry-
ingtowinfederalcontracts.Untilheleftthecompanyin2013,
Stephensworkedtoselltechnologytothegovernment,a job
hedescribesas“yellingasloudaspossibleintothevoid.”The
shoutingdideventuallypayoff.PalantirsuedtheU.S.Armyin
2016 forrefusingtoconsiderit fora largeintelligencecontract.
It wonthecaseand,thisMarch,landedthecontractitself,
whichcouldbeworthasmuchas$800million.
SuchdoggednesshelpedPalantiropenthegovernment’s
doortostartups,butthepushforchangealsocamefrom
theinside.In2015,AshtonCarter,thenPresidentObama’s
defensesecretary,tooka seriesofactionstomakethegovern-
menta friendlierbusinesspartnerforwhatPentagonbureau-
cratscall“nontraditionals.”AfterTrumpwonthepresidency,
StephenswasappointedtotheDefensetransitionteam.He
laterjoinedtheDefenseInnovationBoard,a centralpartof
Carter’sreformeffort.
Stephenshadalsobegunlookingfordefensestartupsin
whichFoundersFundcouldinvest.Luckey,who’dsoldhis
virtual-realitycompany,OculusVRInc.,toFacebookfor
$2billionin2014,wasalsolookingtoputsomeofhiswindfall
intoupstartmilitarycontractors.FoundersFundhadbacked
Oculus,andheandStephenshadbecomefriendsovertime.
Luckey’scareerhadveeredoffcoursejustbeforethe 2016
election,whentheDailyBeastreportedthathe’ddonated
$10,000toa pro-Trumpgroupthatgrewoutofa Redditmes-
sageboard,r/The_Donald,knownforincubatingright-wing
memesandconspiracytheories.Luckey’smoneywasdedi-
catedtoputtingupinsultingbillboardsaboutHillaryClinton.
Almostimmediately,hedisappearedfromFacebook’scampus,
andinMarch 2017 thecompanyannouncedhewasnolonger
anemployee.(Luckeysayshewasfiredbecauseofhispoli-
tics,a claimFacebookChiefExecutiveOfficerMarkZuckerberg
deniedbeforeCongressinApril2018.)
With Luckey now a free agent, he and Stephens got to
work on Anduril, recruiting a handful of people who’d been
at Palantir or Oculus. Their plan was to follow the approach
thathadworkedforLuckeywithvirtualreality:combinelow-
cost,widelyavailablecomponentswithsophisticatedsoftware.
Luckeyfigured the bar would be relatively low. Despite the lore
of the U.S. military’s technical prowess, he argues, the defense
industry has been stagnant for decades. “How is it there’s so
many billionaires and no Iron Man?” he asks, referring to the
fictional weapons-manufacturer-turned-superhero.
Luckey’s colorful public persona was bound to influence
Anduril’s brand, for better or worse. At one point early on,
he showed up at a Japanese anime festival dressed as a char-
acter from a video game, in a costume consisting of a bikini
top and fishnet stockings. (He generally avoids cosplay in
the office, but he lays on the comic book references pretty
heavy no matter the situation.) Such antics haven’t been a
liability, even in the buttoned-up defense business, says Joe
Lonsdale, an early Anduril investor. “He’s a more serious
person than people realize.”Anduril’s first contract, awarded in 2017, was to provide
electronic surveillance technology to U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) for the U.S.-Mexico border. Luckey was a
strong proponent of the work—a logical way, he says, to demon-
strate Anduril’s technical vision. Of course it also made Anduril
instantly controversial by tying it to the Trump administration’s
harsh anti-immigration rhetoric and policies.
Luckey at times has seemed to embrace this connection.
Almost immediately after his departure from Facebook, he
traveled to Washington to advocate for digital border security
alongside Chuck Johnson, a right-wing internet provocateur.
Even the company’s name called to mind the administration’s
nationalist rhetoric: In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Anduril is a
sword whose elvish name means “Flame of the West.”
Critics described Anduril as either a technological mani-
festation of Trumpism, an amoral profiteer, or both. Luckey
saw the outrage as useful. “We were telling people that border
security is not going to be the last time there’s a controversy
around something we’re working on,” he says. Not all Anduril
employees are pleased. Grimm, who describes himself as an
“Obamafanboy”andthemostliberalmemberofthefounding
team,grimaceswhenthesubjectcomesup.“Thegoalwasnot
tosetoutandsay,‘We’rethebordersecuritycompany,’” he
says. “It was actually quite frustrating for us through the first
year and a half, because of course that was the narrative.”