WASHINGTON — A new Pentagon study meant to chart the future of war is facing questions about whether two of its three leaders, Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey, stand to profit from what it recommends.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced “Project Meridian: The Future of Warfare” on Sept. 30 during what he called a “State of the Force” address, naming SpaceX CEO Musk, Anduril Industries co-founder Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as co-leaders, according to Snopes’ review of the speech and an accompanying memo. The effort will operate under the Defense Department’s chief technology officer, Emil Michael, and is expected to take 120 days, NPR reported.
What the study is supposed to do
Hegseth’s memo says the project’s main job is to “map the trajectory of future warfare, identify critical capability gaps, and propose actionable solutions,” drawing on technologists, business leaders, policymakers and national security experts from outside the Pentagon, Snopes reported. In the same address, Hegseth announced a new Autonomous War Command to focus on robotics and autonomous systems.
Hegseth directed Michael to commission the study through the MITRE Corporation, a nonprofit that manages federally funded research centers. A Defense Department spokesperson told NPR that “MITRE is responsible for the analysis and recommendations” and will apply “appropriate conflict-of-interest and information safeguards.”
Why ethics experts are worried
Both Musk and Luckey run companies with large and growing defense businesses. SpaceX has secured more than $8 billion in U.S. defense contracts in 2026 alone and builds Starshield, a military satellite network, NPR reported. Anduril makes drones used on land, at sea and in the air.
“They all want to sell stuff,” Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor and former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told NPR. A former senior Defense Department official, speaking anonymously, called it “a massive conflict of interest,” noting the study could steer the military toward more drones or space-based systems, which both men’s companies build, and away from equipment like tanks, which they don’t.
The Pentagon has not said whether Musk and Luckey were brought on as special government employees, as Musk was when he led the Department of Government Efficiency, or as contractors, NPR reported. The distinction matters: federal criminal conflict-of-interest law bars executive branch employees from taking part in decisions that affect their own finances, but it does not apply to contractors, Painter said.
Not everyone is alarmed
A senior Government Accountability Office official told NPR there are safeguards meant to keep panel members away from procurement decisions, but said the results deserve close scrutiny and questioned why a new task force was needed. Another former Pentagon official said there is a meaningful difference between making recommendations that Congress can accept or reject and writing a weapons requirement and then bidding on it.
The Defense Department did not respond to NPR’s questions about the potential conflicts, and SpaceX’s parent company and Anduril did not respond to requests for comment about their leaders’ potential conflicts.
Trump at Anduril
The scrutiny comes as President Donald Trump was expected to speak Tuesday at an Anduril facility in Baltimore, NPR reported. Luckey was in the audience for Hegseth’s announcement and stood with Musk and Gingrich as they were introduced, according to Snopes. The study’s first conclusions are due in about four months.
Photo: U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. John Wright, Department of Defense, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain). File aerial photo of the Pentagon, May 2023.
This article was produced with AI assistance and is based on reporting from NPR and Snopes.