Installing tech billionaires Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to Pentagon defense board raises conflict of interest concerns

By installing tech billionaires Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to advisory roles in a Pentagon project about the future of warfare, defense secretary Pete Hegseth bestowed extraordinary influence on two of Magas 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 defenses’s artificial intelligence efforts.