Watchdogs Sue Pentagon Over Secretive Musk-Led Advisory Panel

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that Project Meridian violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). This law mandates that any federal advisory group with non-governmental members must operate with transparency, maintain public records, and ensure a balanced membership. According to the plaintiffs—Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Public Citizen, and the Project on Government Oversight—the Pentagon has ignored these requirements while allowing defense contractors to influence policy.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth established the panel via a September 30 memorandum, tasking it with mapping the trajectory of future warfare by January 2027. Despite its broad mandate, the committee has held at least two meetings at the Pentagon without disclosing attendee lists or agendas. The panel is co-led by Musk, whose SpaceX secured over $8 billion in federal contracts in 2026, and Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Anduril Industries, which recently landed a $2 billion Navy contract.

Critics contend that the panel effectively outsources grand military strategy to private stakeholders with direct financial incentives to promote increased spending on autonomous weaponry. Donald Sherman, president of CREW, stated that the agency is legally barred from soliciting secret advice from contractors who possess such significant conflicts of interest. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to halt the committee’s work and invalidate its findings until the Pentagon brings the project into compliance with federal transparency statutes.