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Secretary of Defense Esper Calls on Private Sector to Join Forces with DoD in the Development of AI

Client Alert | 1 min read | 11.21.19

On November 5, 2019, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper delivered remarks on the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Public Conference. In his remarks, Secretary Esper identified AI as a “core, critical” emerging technology for the Department of Defense (DoD), where the goal is “to get the war fighter into the cloud,” and help deliver battlefield data to troops more quickly and predict necessary equipment maintenance from afar, among other things. He also called on the private sector to work with DoD “to lead the world in responsible AI research and application,” emphasizing the need to develop principles for using AI in a lawful and ethical manner, consistent with the U.S.’s AI Strategy Plan, as we reported on here, and in a statement foreshadowing anticipated export controls on certain areas of AI, likely to be issued by the Department of the Commerce in proposed form by the end of the year, Secretary Esper admonished, “ [o]ur collective security must not be diminished by a short and narrow sighted focus on economic opportunity.”

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future....

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