Emil Michael, the Silicon Valley exec turned Trump official leading the war against Anthropic, has deep ties to the tech world

For more than two decades, Emil Michael has operated at the fault line between Silicon Valley ambition and American geopolitical power, helping scale one of tech’s most disruptive companies before returning to government to shape how artificial intelligence will be used in war. The self-proclaimed “one of the best deal guys” has now become the Pentagon’s most aggressive public combatant in its escalating standoff with Anthropic. 

On Friday February 27 the conflict seemed to escalate...