Last weekend, the Wall Street Journal reviewed Unit X, Raj Shah and Christopher Kirchoff’s new fascinating book on the genesis of “DIU,” the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit. (‘Unit X’ Review: Taking Tech Into Battle – WSJ)

The book highlights failures of the US government agencies to work with US technology companies. In stark contrast, the PRC organizes its companies to work for the People’s Liberation Army first and foremost.

As a Texas entrepreneur, from initiating our first pilot project to exiting our last business in the PRC, we slammed into inherently contradictory objectives with our Chinese partners who were supporting Communist Party objectives. Conversely, our government barely understood what we were doing and only began discovering how to leverage commercial experiences like ours much later. They’re still trying to learn.

It’s time for more government officials to get out of Washington, D.C. and learn from US small to medium-sized businesses.