CREW v. Department of Defense

On September 30, 2026, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth commissioned a new advisory committee called “Project Meridian: The Future of Warfare.” Secretary Hegseth tasked Project Meridian with “study[ing] the battlefields of the future, identify[ing] which weapons and technologies warfighters will need to harness to dominate in these environments, and propos[ing] actionable solutions to start developing, testing and fielding these capabilities such that America will have overmatch for the 21st century and beyond.”  Announced members of Project Meridian include Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and others who are stakeholders in major defense contractors and/or are dedicated to aggressive military action. Its membership lacks countervailing voices to ensure its recommendations properly balance the public risks and costs associated with relying on artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to drive military action.

On November 2, 2026, Public Citizen, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Project on Government Oversight (POGO) sued the Department of Defense, Secretary Hegseth, and Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The complaint alleges that Project Meridian violates FACA because the Department of Defense failed to comply with the procedural and substantive requirements of FACA, failed to make Project Meridian’s records publicly available as required by law, failed to provide public access to Project Meridian’s meetings as required by law, and failed to include among Project Meridian’s committee members any people or organizations whose perspectives would balance the viewpoints represented by the committee.