Follow us on social

Thiel pal and venture capitalist eyed for 2nd highest post in Pentagon

Thiel pal and venture capitalist eyed for 2nd highest post in Pentagon

Trae Stephens literally profits and invests in military tech and weapons and as Trump's deputy defense secretary would be in charge of the DOD budget

Analysis | QiOSK

UPDATE December 4, 9:35 AM: President-elect Donald Trump has offered investor Stephen Feinberg the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense.

According to WSJ, President-elect Donald Trump is eyeing Trae Stephens, a close affiliate of venture capitalist and Pentagon contractor Peter Thiel, as his incoming administration’s Deputy Secretary of Defense.

The deputy secretary, a position now held by Kathleen Hicks, is the second-highest-ranking civilian in the Pentagon, with the primary responsibility of “managing the defense budget and executing the priorities of the secretary of defense.”

A longtime partner at Thiel’s Founders Fund and co-founder and Executive Chairman at Anduril, a defense industry company with myriad government contracts, Stephens is an influential player at the intersection of venture capital and defense tech. To say that being in charge of the defense budget could pose a potential conflict of interest, would be an understatement.

Previously, he worked for Thiel’s Palantir Technologies, which for years has received contracts from across the federal spectrum, including the Department of Defense, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security.

Despite myriad controversial efforts behind ethically questionable military technologies like AI-powered military targeting, Anduril and Palantir are among defense tech’s cream of the crop thanks to VC funding, especially Thiel funding, with Palantir now reporting record profits and Anduril amassing a hefty $1.5 billion in Series F fundraising in August.

Striving for political influence in a perpetual quest for business-sustaining government contracts, Anduril has become a prominent Washington lobbyist, especially regarding AI regulations. Palantir has likewise secured positions in high places like the U.S.-China Economic Security and Review Commission, which advises lawmakers on the U.S.-China relationship. And now, the possible Stephens appointment represents the undeniable influence of defense tech, and especially venture capital-backed defense tech in Washington politics after years of work getting a seat at the table.

Zooming out, Peter Thiel, a serial funder of congressional campaigns, bankrolled fellow venture capitalist and now-VP elect J.D. Vance’s successful 2022 Senate Campaign in Ohio to the tune of $15 million — the most anyone has given to a Senate candidate. Thiel and Vance are in fact long term associates, where Thiel previously assisted Vance’s own venture capital career. Not to miss an opportunity, powerful members of tech's inner core jumped into action via Elon Musk’s Super PAC, America PAC, upon Vance’s VP-nomination, giving $200 million to the Trump campaign overall.

Through ventures like SpaceX, Elon Musk has himself become a prominent government contractor. Concerns mount that his emerging status as a “close confidant” of Trump and his own appointment as co-head of the newly-minted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may materialize into major conflicts of interest.

Even if the Stephens nod doesn’t happen, the other possible Deputy Secretary of Defense pick, billionaire financier Stephen Feinberg, is just as much of an industry mainstay. The previous Trump administration’s intelligence advisory board head, Feinberg in the past owned once-prominent national security contractor DynCorp (now part of Amentum) and is the CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, which launched a defense-focused venture capital arm this year. A Feinberg spokesperson, however, said that he has not been offered a position.

As electronic warfare startup CX2 co-founder Nathan Mintz explained to Forbes, “the close relationships between (vice president-elect) Vance, Elon and the defense VC and startup ecosystem will create a huge opening for real defense acquisition reform and widening of the number of players.”

On the other hand, possible Trump picks like Stephens and Musk showcase the further entrenchment of a techno-patriot class in Washington politics, a class of tech elites apparently eager to bolster American military might in exchange for top-dollar government contracts.


Top photo credit: Trae Stephens of Anduril Industries’ at the Stanford Seminar: Silicon Valley & The U.S. Government (You Tube/Screenshot)
Analysis | QiOSK
Trump and Keith Kellogg
Top photo credit: U.S. President Donald Trump and Keith Kellogg (now Trump's Ukraine envoy) in 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Trump's silence on loss of Ukraine lithium territory speaks volumes

Europe

Last week, Russian military forces seized a valuable lithium field in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the latest success of Moscow’s grinding summer offensive.

The lithium deposit in question is considered rather small by industry analysts, but is said to be a desirable prize nonetheless due to the concentration and high-quality of its ore. In other words, it is just the kind of asset that the Trump administration seemed eager to exploit when it signed its much heralded minerals agreement with Ukraine earlier this year.

keep readingShow less
Is the US now funding the bloodbath at Gaza aid centers?
Top photo credit: Palestinians walk to collect aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled/File Photo

Is the US now funding the bloodbath at Gaza aid centers?

Middle East

Many human rights organizations say it should shut down. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have killed hundreds of Palestinians at or around its aid centers. And yet, the U.S. has committed no less than $30 million toward the controversial, Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

As famine-like conditions grip Gaza, the GHF says it has given over 50 million meals to Palestinians at its four aid centers in central and southern Gaza Strip since late May. These centers are operated by armed U.S. private contractors, and secured by IDF forces present at or near them.

keep readingShow less
mali
Heads of state of Mali, Assimi Goita, Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani and Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore, pose for photographs during the first ordinary summit of heads of state and governments of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in Niamey, Niger July 6, 2024. REUTERS/Mahamadou Hamidou//File Photo

Post-coup juntas across the Sahel face serious crises

Africa

In Mali, General Assimi Goïta, who took power in a 2020 coup, now plans to remain in power through at least the end of this decade, as do his counterparts in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. As long-ruling juntas consolidate power in national capitals, much of the Sahelian terrain remains out of government control.

Recent attacks on government security forces in Djibo (Burkina Faso), Timbuktu (Mali), and Eknewane (Niger) have all underscored the depth of the insecurity. The Sahelian governments face a powerful threat from jihadist forces in two organizations, Jama‘at Nusrat al-Islam wa-l-Muslimin (the Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims, JNIM, which is part of al-Qaida) and the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP). The Sahelian governments also face conventional rebel challengers and interact, sometimes in cooperation and sometimes in tension, with various vigilantes and community-based armed groups.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.