How Silicon Valley’s influence in Washington benefits the tech elite

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Elon Musk isn’t the lone tech billionaire with powerfulness implicit the national agencies that modulate his businesses. Since Donald Trump took office, much than 3 twelve employees, allies, and investors of Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Palmer Luckey person taken roles astatine national agencies, helping nonstop billions successful contracts to their companies.

Companies owned, founded, oregon invested successful by Musk, Thiel, Andreessen, and Luckey person collected much than a twelve national contracts totaling astir $6 cardinal since Trump’s inauguration successful January, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. And they’re actively pursuing billions more.

Those appointments, which are successful departments that oversee, regulate, and grant concern to the 4 men’s companies, rise a fig of reddish flags. They could interruption struggle of involvement laws oregon authorities morals regulations, some of which prohibit national employees from utilizing nationalist bureau for backstage gain.

And portion it’s not antithetic to instal trusted allies successful authorities roles, Musk’s web has moved successful astatine an unprecedented complaint and scale. TechCrunch has antecedently reported connected each of the people successful Musk’s universe who person joined him astatine DOGE, wherever helium has shuttered national agencies and slashed workforces successful departments that modulate his businesses. At slightest 19 others with Silicon Valley connections, beryllium they founders oregon investors, person besides joined DOGE.

“The 2nd Trump medication is really the archetypal successful caller years to not enforce immoderate benignant of further morals safeguards connected precocious level appointees,” Daniel Weiner, manager of the Brennan Center’s Elections & Government Program, told TechCrunch. He noted that Trump fired at slightest 17 people astatine the Office of Government Ethics, including the director, instantly aft taking office.

“It surely does perchance summation the hazard that you person radical moving connected matters that bash impact, astatine slightest indirectly, their bottommost lines,” Weiner said. “But this is simply a semipermanent contented successful our authorities that’s not unsocial to this administration.”

Innovation versus accountability

Some whitethorn reason that it makes consciousness for employees and associates of Musk, Thiel, Andreessen, and Luckey to articulation authorities agencies. Their insiders are talented individuals who are down the cutting-edge exertion the authorities genuinely needs, and they recognize however to innovate rapidly and vie globally.

More superior questions originate erstwhile favoritism threatens to undermine competition, erstwhile argumentation is created oregon destroyed to support marketplace dominance, oregon erstwhile regulations that would service the nationalist bully are waylaid to beforehand concern interests.

For instance, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau precocious retreated from pursuing rules that would restrict information brokers, contempt increasing privateness concerns – a displacement that stands to payment companies progressive successful AI, surveillance, and information analytics. Another illustration is DOGE’s firing of staffers astatine the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration who analyse autonomous conveyance safety, including respective probes into Tesla.

“One of the defining structural challenges the authorities of the United States has close present is that we person a strategy successful which the precise wealthiest interests person truthful overmuch powerfulness to signifier our elections and past crook astir and signifier authorities policy,” Weiner said.

Another Silicon Valley appointee, Mike Kratsios – a erstwhile Thiel worker – is present starring exertion argumentation for the U.S. government. In an April speech, helium spoke astir throwing distant atrocious regulations that “weigh down our innovators,” peculiarly those who are innovating successful AI.

“Many radical successful Silicon Valley thin to deliberation that immoderate worked successful Silicon Valley is besides going to enactment for administering the United States government,” Weiner said. “And arsenic we’re seeing now, the information is simply a batch of radical are going to get wounded due to the fact that of the assumptions they make.”

“The information that you had a palmy startup aft 5 others failed doesn’t needfully mean you cognize however to tally the Social Security Administration,” helium continued.

A web wrong and a payoff outside

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

All of the businesses betwixt Musk, Thiel, Andreessen, and Luckey are related. Musk’s SpaceX was backed by Thiel’s Founders Fund and Andreessen’s a16z (which besides invested successful X and xAI). Both of those VCs besides backed Anduril, Luckey’s defence startup.

The overlapping web of founders, funders, and insiders extends into respective national agencies. And successful galore cases, those agencies are steering billions successful national contracts backmost to those companies.

The Journal recovered that crossed Washington, radical from Musk’s network, including Tesla, X, and SpaceX, are successful much than a twelve agencies, from the enforcement bureau of the president and Office of Personnel Management each the mode down to the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy.

SpaceX employees are besides successful agencies that could supply the institution caller business. For example, the Journal reports that SpaceX elder technologist Theodore Malaska got an morals waiver successful February that lets him instrumentality a impermanent occupation astatine the Federal Aviation Administration portion inactive moving astatine the rocket company. The FAA hasn’t fixed immoderate contracts to SpaceX yet, but Malaska said connected X the bureau has utilized Starlink to upgrade a upwind observing strategy successful Alaska.

SpaceX is besides the main commercialized supplier that transports unit and cargo for NASA. Despite nationalist information concerns – similar the company’s secret backdoor for Chinese investment and Musk’s reported wont of drug-taking – SpaceX successful April won $5.9 billion of a $13.7 cardinal multi-year declaration from the U.S. Space Force successful April to motorboat Pentagon missions. The DOD, which is presently a Starlink customer, besides plans to bargain SpaceX’s Starshield satellites, a militarized mentation of the net satellites.

Employees astatine Thiel-backed firms person recovered themselves successful roles successful the State Department, the Office of Management and Budget, Health and Human Services, and Social Security, per The Wall Street Journal. Thiel’s Palantir has already been awarded astir $376 cardinal since 2020 from Health and Human Services. In 2024, the institution was besides awarded astatine slightest $1.2 billion successful Department of Defense contracts successful 2024, and is successful the moving for another $100 cardinal deal.

Anduril, Palantir, and SpaceX precocious submitted a multibillion-dollar connection for Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile-defense program, which would besides adhd to Anduril’s existing contracts with the U.S. Army. Recently, Anduril and Microsoft took implicit a 2021 declaration worthy up to $22 cardinal to make AR headsets, per the Journal.

An Anduril executive, Michael Obadal, has been nominated to a apical relation astatine the Department of Defense. In his morals disclosure, helium stated that helium would retain his Anduril stock if appointed.

TechCrunch has reached retired to Anduril, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Palantir, and SpaceX for comment.

“This benignant of attraction of backstage wealthiness and governmental powerfulness is yet precise risky for our economy,” Weiner said. “Because alternatively of the authorities making decisions that are intended to foster competition, foster economical growth, you tally the existent hazard that authorities decisions are going to alternatively beryllium structured astir protecting peculiar companies and peculiar industries from afloat economical competition.”

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