Why should anyone at the Department of War or the general public care what non-citizen employees of these companies think?

This administration has consistently signaled that they will do all they legally can to punish those dissenters. Look at the White House labeling recent victims of ICE shootings as "terrorists", despite there being no sign of terroristic activity from these US citizens. Or, look at how the WH is cutting Medicaid benefits to Minnesota.

Going after the visa-holding employees of these companies is within reach of the WH, and it's consistent with their MO.

I'm confused.

In the OP, the CEO of Anthropomorphic says "I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries."

Are you saying that the United States government itself is one of those autocratic adversaries?

From the link:

> They're trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in. That strategy only works if none of us know where the others stand. This letter serves to create shared understanding and solidarity in the face of this pressure from the Department of War.

This is about spreading information among the companies about each others' position, not a petition to the DoD.

because citizenship is not a prerequisite for defending human rights and differentiating right from wrong. this isn't general election and they are not voting, non citizens still enjoy the rights under the constitution like 1A.

This administration has shown no qualms about enacting retribution against people who speak out against them, no matter how powerless or seemingly irrelevant the person is.

Because noncitizens can be motivated or not and / or resign and, frankly, there isn't that deep of a well of top tier AI talent. The threat of mass resignations led to OAI re-hiring sam altman, after all.

Also why would the department of war care about what citizens think specifically?