If you define "world's preeminent ML researchers" as people who publish then you are begging the question. Would you be aware of preeminent ML researchers that

If you define "world's preeminent ML researchers" as people who publish then you are begging the question. Would you be aware of preeminent ML researchers that don't publish? I think it is mistake to underestimate the computer science talent inside parts of the US intelligence community, some of it is exceptionally good. Most people in Silicon Valley have never met or worked with these people. I once asked a former professor from a highly regarded CS school why he quit academia to work for one of the agencies. For him it was simple: he could spend his days doing nothing but hardcore non-incremental CS research while avoiding the politics, incrementalism, and other tendencies of academia. Pure quality of life doing meaningful work in a low stress environment was more valuable to him than money or status. Many people do research solely for the challenge of solving hard problems, publishing is not important to them. The inclusiveness and diversity of the work environment is also an overlooked attraction. The demographics don't look like your typical SV startup. Government organizations have many issues but providing equal opportunity for minorities is not one of them. Not everyone is comfortable working for tech companies. There may be nothing to the article but don't write it off solely on the basis of presumed "second rate talent". There are research groups inside US intelligence that have world-class talent on par with the FAANG companies.