Oligarchs like Elon Musk are tightening their grip on the Pentagon

Reported by MS NOW. The paragraphs below are the opening of that article, reproduced word for word — not a summary, and not the whole piece.

A new initiative named Project Meridian is just one way GOP donors’ influence over defense policy is increasing.

In a recent speech to top military officers, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Project Meridian — a new initiative to formulate a “proactive vision for shaping American dominance in the future of warfare” by “identifying the capabilities required to achieve absolute technological dominance on the next-generation battlefield.” That description is fairly standard defense policy planning, but the chairs of the effort are anything but standard: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and wealthy defense contractors Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey.

Less than a week after announcing Project Meridian, the Pentagon awarded Luckey’s company Anduril a $2.9 billion contract to build components for submarines, and another contract worth $1.9 billion to scale up command and control software. President Donald Trump even traveled to Baltimore to tout the submarine contract. These are just the latest examples of how the Trump administration is letting unqualified billionaires burrow ever deeper into the U.S. national security apparatus.

Trying to anticipate and plan for the future of warfare is good, since decisions made now shape which weapons systems and force structures the U.S. military will have in a decade or two. The Office of Net Assessment, the Pentagon’s “internal think tank,” conducted such research for more than 50 years, until Hegseth closed it in 2025 . The Office of Net Assessment was known for highly educated, nonpartisan eggheads — the type of Department of Defense employee Hegseth has targeted in his politicized purges . Musk, Luckey and Project Meridian make for a terrible replacement.