Elon Musk returns to US govt, this time to advise on future wars

Tech billionaire Elon Musk will make a return to officially advising US President Donald Trump's government by co-leading what the Pentagon called a study on the future of war.

Musk served as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) before departing in May 2025, having publicly fallen out with Trump. In a speech at the Quantico military base, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said "Project Meridian" will be "an effort led by America's best minds to study the future of warfare".

"We are leveraging a unique source of American advantage, one our adversaries do not have: our innovators, our senior leaders and our technologists," Hegseth said.


Musk will be a co-leader of Project Meridian alongside Palmer Luckey, the 34-year-old co-founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries, and Newt Gingrich, the 83-year-old Republican former House speaker. Hegseth said the project's purpose is to "creatively look to the future and identify the domains we must conquer and capabilities we must master".

Project members will include hand-picked private sector leaders and subject matter experts from across the innovation, academic and policy ecosystems.