Pentagon officials warn that Pete Hegseth’s The plan to bring in two billionaire defense contractors to help guide the military’s future will produce conflicts of interest that will threaten the long-term integrity of the department.
The Secretary of Defense’s effort, nicknamed Project Meridianasks SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and founder of Anduril Palmer Luckey – with the former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich – to “chart the trajectory of future war”. They are supposed to submit their report in four months.
The Pentagon has revealed few details about the commission or the scope of its jurisdiction beyond the four paragraph memo it empowers and insistence the United States needs to “dominate” the next generation of warfare. It is unclear whether the initiative would give leaders the vast influence Musk appreciated last year as leader of the president that of Donald Trump Department of Government Effectiveness. But Musk and Luckey run companies that have Pentagon contracts worth billions of dollars — and nine current and former officials have said any preferential access could allow them to funnel even more business their way.
“This is utterly indicative of the decadence and oligarchy that has taken over our government and, in many cases, directly through influence, power and purchasing authority, blatantly before us,” said Wes Bryanta retired Air Force master sergeant who until last year led the Pentagon’s civilian harm assessments. “They don’t even try to hide it anymore.”
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