Pete Hegseth appoints Elon Musk to US taskforce on future of warfare

A year after his explosive tenure at Doge, the SpaceX CEO is back in the Trump administration's good graces

Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that Elon Musk will co-lead a government project to study the future of warfare, marking the SpaceX CEO's first return to government since he ran the chaotic, so -called department of government efficiency", or Doge. Musk will be joined by Palmer Luckey, CEO of the defense tech company Anduril, and Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House.

A defense department press release on the effort, called Project Meridian, described its goal as identifying the capabilities required to achieve absolute technological dominance on the next-generation battlefield". The project will run for 120 days and culminate in an unclassified public report of its recommendations.