This headline from the Washington Times makes us very nervous:

The story identifies three alarming trends inside the $1 trillion Department of Defense:

• The Pentagon is increasing direct investments in private defense companies.
• This strategy raises political, ethical, and legal concerns among lawmakers.
• The Trump administration has invested in over 20 private firms so far.

What is most worrisome and must be stopped is an insidious provision in the 2027 Defense spending bill that authorizes funding for a Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital. This would hand over new authority for DOD to take ownership stakes in private companies – four of which are already in the works.

Turning the Pentagon into a venture capital fund is a truly awful idea – and Congress should put a stop to it.

Senator Mike Rounds said it best: “The concern that I have with it is that I don’t want to pick winners and losers. And at what point do you suddenly start using one company because [the government] has an interest in it?”

President Dwight Eisenhower famously warned against the military-industrial complex, but we’re not sure even he could have foreseen this level of collusion.