On September 30, Pete Hegseth put Elon Musk and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey in charge of “Project Meridian,” a 120-day Pentagon review of what weapons and technologies the military will need for future wars. SpaceX launches classified payloads for the government, and Anduril sells autonomous weapons to the Pentagon. The people deciding what the military should buy next are the people whose companies sell it. That is not outside expertise. It is a contractor writing its own order, paid for by taxpayers and carried out in the name of national security. Contractors can testify, consult, and compete for work like everyone else. They should not be the ones setting the requirements their own companies will bid on. Pass a law barring anyone with a financial stake in a defense contractor from leading the reviews that set the Pentagon’s weapons and budget priorities.
On September 30, Pete Hegseth put Elon Musk and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey in charge of “Project Meridian,” a 120-day Pentagon review of what weapons and technologies the military will need for future wars. SpaceX launches classified payloads for the government, and Anduril sells autonomous weapons to the Pentagon. The people deciding what the military should buy next are the people whose companies sell it. That is not outside expertise. It is a contractor writing its own order, paid for by taxpayers and carried out in the name of national security. Contractors can testify, consult, and compete for work like everyone else. They should not be the ones setting the requirements their own companies will bid on. Pass a law barring anyone with a financial stake in a defense contractor from leading the reviews that set the Pentagon’s weapons and budget priorities.
