But Chaillan quit on September 2. In his departing LinkedIn post, he cited the Pentagon’s reluctance to make cybersecurity and AI a priority as a reason for his resignation.

Speaking to the Financial Times in his first interview since leaving, Chaillan said China was far ahead of the US.

“We have no competing fighting chance against China in fifteen to twenty years. Right now, it’s already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion,” he said.

Chaillan went on to say that the AI capabilities and cyber defenses of some government departments were at “kindergarten level,” the FT said.