Hegseth announces drone push, which will make the names on his Rolodex very happy

Defense secretary performs for an audience of one

Embattled U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who famously drilled a West Point drummer on a Fox News set and, instead of checking on him, giggled and ran the other way, was roundly mocked on social media for his propaganda video to show Washington’s new commitment to drone warfare.

“Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance,” Hegseth posted, a message intended for his audience of one: Donald Trump, who approved the video and called the former Fox News weekend host his “Secretary of War,” an apparent effort to help Hegseth’s ego.

Elon Musk also chimed in: “Long way to go, but good move.”

Before Hegseth was confirmed as defense head, his Venmo account showed close ties to members of the military-industrial-complex 2.0—from Palantir to Anduril—companies already with close ties to President Donald Trump and his administration.

The American Prospect reported that a key concern not raised during Hegseth’s hearings in Washington was his Rolodex of contacts with ties to these emerging companies that have been endorsed by Musk, the tech billionaire, as the future of warfare.

The American Prospect’s report showed the revolving door in Washington and how these companies get rich by buying politicians with influence. The report identified China hawk Rep. Mike Gallagher, a former representative from Wisconsin, as being on Hegseth’s contact list. Gallagher “cashed in on his political connections” and is the new defense head at Palantir.

There is no doubt that the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have shown that drone warfare is the way of the future. The Trends Journal even identified drone wars as a Top Trend of 2025.

The Financial Times reported in December that Palantir, Peter Thiel’s military technology company, partly funded by the CIA, wants to form a cabal of military contracting companies to compete with the likes of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin for Pentagon funding and tap further into the $850 billion budget for 2025. The FT’s report noted that Palantir already has a larger market capitalization than Lockheed.

Other companies mentioned in the report include Anduril, OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. (Anduril was founded by Trump donor Palmer Luckey, who is Matt Gaetz’s brother-in-law.)

Musk has been using his X platform to criticize Washington for funding pricey military equipment that he believes is ineffective, like Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth strike fighter jets.

He posted a video in November that showed hundreds of drones flying in formation and wrote, “Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35.”

He wrote that the F-35 project was doomed from the beginning because it promised to be “too many things to too many people.”

“This made it an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none. Success was never in the set of possible outcomes,” he posted.