Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has quietly tapped two billionaire defense contractors to help shape the future of American warfare, prompting warnings from current and former Pentagon officials that the arrangement hands private industry players enormous influence over the very department that funds their companies.
According to Politico, the initiative, called Project Meridian, recruits SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, alongside former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, to spend the next four months charting what the Pentagon calls the future "trajectory of warfare." Officials have revealed almost nothing about how the commission will actually operate, relying on a brief four-paragraph memo and broad language insisting the U.S. must "dominate" next-generation military technology.
Both Musk and Luckey run companies holding billions of dollars in active Pentagon contracts, and nine current and former officials told reporters the arrangement raises obvious conflict-of-interest concerns, warning it could let the two executives steer even more business toward their own firms. It remains unclear whether the commission will grant them anything close to the sweeping authority Musk wielded last year while leading Trump's Department of Government Oversight.
Wes Bryant, a retired Air Force master sergeant who previously ran the Pentagon's civilian harm assessments, said the arrangement reflects a troubling pattern he's watched unfold inside the department.
"This is entirely indicative of the decay and oligarchy that has taken over our government and, in many cases, directly through purchasing influence and power and authority, blatantly right in front of us," Bryant said. "They're not even trying to hide it anymore."
Musk, who is also currently ramping up his political spending for Republicans around the country, infamously played a huge role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force last year, which ordered mass firings across the federal government. The initiative failed to make any notable taxpayer savings or make the government run any more efficiently.