Elon Musk returns to Trump's administration, now in a new role

This was announced by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on September 30 at the Quantico military base. According to him, Project Meridian will be an initiative in which the strongest American specialists will work to explore the future of warfare. The project plans to involve representatives of the private sector, as well as experts from innovative, academic, and political spheres.

Musk will be one of the three co-chairs of the project. Along with him, it will be led by 34-year-old Palmer Luckey, co-founder of the defense technology company Anduril Industries, and 83-year-old Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives from the Republican Party.

Hegseth stated that the project should identify the areas in which the US needs to gain an advantage and the technologies the country must master. The results of the work are planned to be presented within 120 days.

Musk previously worked in Donald Trump's administration. In 2024, he supported Trump during the presidential campaign, and after his return to the White House, he headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Under his leadership, massive cutbacks were carried out in US federal agencies. In May 2025, Musk left this position.

Musk's companies already have close ties with the Pentagon. SpaceX is one of the key contractors for the American defense department and is building satellite networks for the Trump administration's planned Golden Dome missile defense shield. Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI also signed an agreement this year, allowing the American military to use the Grok chatbot in closed information systems.

After the 2024 presidential elections, relations between Musk and Trump significantly deteriorated due to disagreements over the government spending bill. However, they later reconciled, and Musk again began to appear frequently at the White House, although not as regularly as in the first months of the new administration.

On September 29, Musk sat next to Trump at a working lunch with AI company executives. There, along with other industry representatives, he signed a voluntary AI safety agreement, which Trump called "morally binding."

Last week, Musk also attended Trump's state dinner in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping. In May, he flew to Beijing aboard Air Force One as part of a business delegation accompanying Trump during a state visit to China.

At the same time, Musk resumed significant financial donations to support Republicans. According to aggregated data from the US Federal Election Commission, during the 2024 elections, he spent over $250 million supporting Trump and other Republicans, and by the November midterm elections, he had already transferred at least $90 million.

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