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Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Private Tech and the Future of Modern Warfare
When it comes to global dominance, military technology has always been a major geopolitical driver. For decades, the West set the rules on innovation using soft power and government funding to develop its own exclusive cutting-edge defensive capabilities. But in the digital era, the breakthroughs - be it AI systems and autonomous drones, satellite internet or advanced semiconductors - are coming from private companies, not government labs.
In Bytes and Bullets, Steve Feldstein explains how technology is transforming geopolitics, upending the ways that countries compete, and how they wage war. Through captivating stories and original field research, he shows how the West's dominance is being undercut at every turn by a combination of commercialization, authoritarian convergence led by China and Russia, and the emergence of new regional powers hungry for more influence.
A new tech cold war is coming into focus fast and restrictions and sanctions are no longer enough to maintain international stability. Feldstein reports from its front line in this rich and at times alarming account of this pivotal moment in history, making an urgent call for the West to act now, or risk losing its international standing forever.
In Bytes and Bullets, Steve Feldstein explains how technology is transforming geopolitics, upending the ways that countries compete, and how they wage war. Through captivating stories and original field research, he shows how the West's dominance is being undercut at every turn by a combination of commercialization, authoritarian convergence led by China and Russia, and the emergence of new regional powers hungry for more influence.
A new tech cold war is coming into focus fast and restrictions and sanctions are no longer enough to maintain international stability. Feldstein reports from its front line in this rich and at times alarming account of this pivotal moment in history, making an urgent call for the West to act now, or risk losing its international standing forever.
367 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 16, 2026
About the author
Steve Feldstein
6 books17 followersSteve Feldstein is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. His research focuses on technology and geopolitics, U.S. foreign policy, war, and democracy.
Feldstein's new book, Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalry, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare will release September 8, 2026 by St. Martin’s Press.
Feldstein is the author of The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance, which was the recipient of the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
He has published research on digital technology’s impact on war, the role of artificial intelligence is reshaping repression, the geopolitics of technology, China’s advancing digital authoritarianism, and new patterns of internet shutdowns.
He has served in senior foreign policy roles at the U.S. Department of State, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He was also the holder of the Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs at Boise State University.
He is a graduate of Princeton University and Berkeley Law. He was born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana.
Feldstein's new book, Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalry, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare will release September 8, 2026 by St. Martin’s Press.
Feldstein is the author of The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power, Politics, and Resistance, which was the recipient of the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
He has published research on digital technology’s impact on war, the role of artificial intelligence is reshaping repression, the geopolitics of technology, China’s advancing digital authoritarianism, and new patterns of internet shutdowns.
He has served in senior foreign policy roles at the U.S. Department of State, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He was also the holder of the Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs at Boise State University.
He is a graduate of Princeton University and Berkeley Law. He was born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana.
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