The notion that the work done by "the engineering elite" at tech companies and research organizations aren't contributing to the national defense unless they're pressed into military service or working directly on weapons systems is absurd.

Who does he think invented, designed, and implemented the hardware and software underlying modern military technology?

Or for that matter, the tech that makes running any organization at the scale of the modern US military even possible.

Consider: with computer technology, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service employs over 12,000 people responsible for the Department of Defense's basic accounting functions like accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll.

Forget building bombs and drafting soldiers.

Without computer technology, you'd need to draft an army of clerical workers.