CREW president Donald K. Sherman says Project Meridian must either comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act or stop operating
Donald K. ShermanPresident of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a plaintiff, in the plaintiffs' joint announcement posted on the Public Citizen website
Sherman says the Federal Advisory Committee Act sets clear transparency and conflict-of-interest requirements and that Project Meridian must either comply with them or stop operating.
Responding to
Project Meridian is a federal advisory committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and the Defense Department created and runs it without the charter, public notice, open meetings and records, and fairly balanced membership the law requires.
“The Federal Advisory Committee Act sets clear requirements about transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest, and Project Meridian must either comply or stop operating.”
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Watchdog groups sue the Pentagon over Project Meridian, saying the Musk and Luckey 'Future of Warfare' panel breaks federal advisory committee law
CREW, Public Citizen and POGO say Project Meridian, the Pentagon study co-led by Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich, is an advisory committee operating in secret without a charter or balanced membership. The Defense Department says MITRE applies conflict-of-interest safeguards.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
The plaintiffs' joint announcement of the lawsuit, posted on the Public Citizen website, with statements from CREW president Donald K. Sherman, Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman and POGO interim executive director Isabel Munilla.
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In the plaintiffs' joint announcement, Sherman says the Defense Department is legally barred from getting advice in secret from defense contractors with enormous potential conflicts of interest, and that this is exactly what Project Meridian is doing.
After the quotation
The announcement then quotes Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman, who says Project Meridian would outsource the design of grand military strategy to Musk and Luckey.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the Defense Department's creation and operation of Project Meridian with Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich at its head, which the plaintiffs say violates federal advisory committee law and critics say carries conflicts of interest. Sherman says the department is getting secret advice from contractors with large potential conflicts and that the panel must comply with the law or shut down, a direct criticism of how it was set up.
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More from this case
Read the full caseProject On Government Oversight, in a statement by interim executive director Isabel Munilla, says stacking Project Meridian with industry leaders will skew national security policy
Project On Government Oversight
“Stacking Project Meridian with industry leaders will further skew national security policy toward corporate priorities, and away from the public interest.”Read statement
Public Citizen, in a statement by co-president Robert Weissman, says the law requires balance to stop insiders like Musk and Luckey from writing policy
Public Citizen
“That would simultaneously make the world more dangerous and starve funding for domestic and human needs. The law demands balance on advisory committees, precisely to prevent connected insiders like Musk and Luckey from writing policy at the expense of the public.”Read statement
Richard Painter tells NPR that Musk wants to make money selling AI to the Defense Department and that whatever he proposes is not a neutral public service
“So if we go into it understanding that [Musk], like all the other contractors, he wants to make a lot of money selling AI to the Defense Department. Whatever he proposes, but it's not like he's doing it as a neutral public service.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "CREW president Donald K. Sherman says Project Meridian must either comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act or stop operating". First published: 2026-11-03. Last updated: 2026-11-03. https://disputeindex.com/events/7832-sherman-says-the-federal-advisory-committee-act-sets