Dominic Cummings: evaluation

Transcript context

…Was it because of security concerns? What was the reason? A combination of bureaucracy, security concerns and arguments between. The Google Docs thing is actually a sort of interesting thing. So we arrive in summer 2019 and there is no system for file sharing. We say — This is completely insane. We are going to create a system for file sharing. Months of wrangling ensue. Two different parts of the deep state basically argue about whether Teams or Google Docs is more susceptible to China and Russia intercepting. No resolution. This actually ends up affecting COVID. We force a resolution. We get GCHQ to build a system. Still now, four years after we started this discussion, the Cabinet office and Number 10 are still fighting about Google Docs versus Teams, and have now recently resolved to hire some consultants for millions of pounds to spend a year doing a study on it. So one very small little thing in a way, but probably certainly anybody who’s been at a kind of high functioning company would just be completely stunned by how the core of a G-7 state actually works. Hopefully the consultants are allowed to use Google Docs to decide whether you’re allowed to use Google Docs.…

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