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... Pentagon officials warn that Pete Hegseth's plan for a pair of billionaire defense contractors to help steer the military's future will produce conflicts of interest that threaten the long-term integrity of the department.

The Defense secretary's effort, dubbed Project Meridian, asks SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Anduril founder Palmer Luckey " along with former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- to "map the trajectory of future warfare." They are supposed to report back in four months.

The Pentagon revealed few details about the commission or the scope of its jurisdiction beyond the four-paragraph memo that authorizes it and an insistence the U.S. needs to "dominate" the next generation of warfare.

It's unclear whether the initiative would give the executives the vast sway Musk enjoyed last year as leader of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.

But both Musk and Luckey head companies that have contracts with the Pentagon worth billions of dollars -- and nine current and former officials said any preferential access could allow them to funnel even more business their way. ...