When the continued status of your nation as a leader in space is uncertain, you need to go with the experts in the field, whoever they are. Putting inexperienced bureaucrats in charge of Project Meridian should create much more worry than any experts' potential conflicts of interests.
Elon Musk is outstanding at slash and burn savings but having no military experience I too wonder at his usefulness in this position. As an adviser on transport logistics sure. For space weapons leadership not so much. Most of what he knows in that field comes from scifi novels. He is an accomplished self learned engineer and rocket designer though.
When the continued status of your nation as a leader in space is uncertain, you need to go with the experts in the field, whoever they are. Putting inexperienced bureaucrats in charge of Project Meridian should create much more worry than any experts' potential conflicts of interests.
Elon Musk is outstanding at slash and burn savings but having no military experience I too wonder at his usefulness in this position. As an adviser on transport logistics sure. For space weapons leadership not so much. Most of what he knows in that field comes from scifi novels. He is an accomplished self learned engineer and rocket designer though.