The Guardian reports:

By installing the tech billionaires Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to advisory roles in a Pentagon project about the future of warfare, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, bestowed extraordinary influence on two of Maga’s most significant campaign donors – and both men own companies that benefit from federal defense contracting.

The new project, which Hegseth dubbed “Project Meridian” in an event in Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday, will be led by Pentagon official Emil Michael, a former Uber executive. As the Guardian has reported, Michael made millions in profits off non-public Musk company AI stock while in federal office – and while guiding the Department of Defense’s artificial intelligence efforts.

Along with Luckey and Musk, Project Meridian will also include the Trump loyalist and former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

Musk was one of the chief financiers of Trump’s 2024 victory, spending over a quarter of a billion dollars in the run-up to the election. Recent campaign records show he is still a major force in the coming midterms. His America Pac spent $3.4m attacking the Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race, for example. In the hotly contested Texas Senate race, America Pac spent $6.4m to oppose Democrat James Talarico and $1m to support the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton.

Musk’s SpaceX has been a crucial contractor for US space programs since 2018, and in the second Trump administration his company has emerged as key player in Trump’s pet Golden Dome ballistic missile defense project, a phenomenally expensive effort that could cost as much as $1.2tn.

Musk dwarfs Luckey in resources and fame, but Luckey has achieved immense celebrity in the defense contracting and world. Initially a young celebrity in the tech world for inventing a virtual reality headset, Luckey later founded Anduril, a defense contracting company that has already won significant federal contracts. [Continue reading…]