Emil Michael

Money Moves

Oversees the Department of War's critical technology areas

Antheia holds an $80 million conditional loan commitment from the Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital, announced October 17, to make drug ingredients in the US using engineered yeast. The country imports about 90% of the key starting materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients that go into generic medicines.

Updated Oct 23

New Capabilities

Chairs Project Meridian

Project Meridian is underway. Led by Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich, the Pentagon study met first in a classified room at Quantico on September 30. Oversight now sits with the nonprofit MITRE Corporation.

Updated Oct 18

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Leading technical negotiations with AI companies

Anthropic's Claude became the first commercial AI model on classified U.S. military networks in late 2024. In March 2026, the Defense Department labeled the company a 'supply chain risk'—a tag once reserved for foreign adversaries—for refusing to allow mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous weapons.

Updated Sep 26

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Leading technical implementation of drone programs

The Pentagon spent $398 million on small drones in 2022. Four years later, as Ukraine demonstrated that $400 drones could destroy $10 million tanks, Congress authorized $1.7 billion—a fourfold increase. Now the Department of Defense has launched its most ambitious small-drone initiative ever: a $1.1 billion program to field more than 300,000 one-way attack drones by 2028, with the first 30,000 expected by mid-2026.

Updated May 26