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Technology
Meet the Pentagon’s AI bro squad
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The Pentagon’s private-sector A-Team
This morning, in advance of a meeting between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, my colleague Hayden Field and I published a story about the Pentagon’s hardball contract renegotiations with Anthropic. The stakes are higher than it should reasonably be, with the Pentagon continuing to designate Anthropic a “supply-chain risk” if the company doesn’t comply with their demands about their acceptable use policy.
In a post-meeting readout, Axios reported that Hegseth brought several other senior Defense officials to the meeting in an attempt to show that the Pentagon was taking the dispute “seriously.” But in a post-DOGE Trump administration run by broligarchs, it’s always worthwhile to check the attendees’ bios. Some of them were normal senior officials who’d spent their careers in government and military work, but the others have somewhat unusual backgrounds:
- Pentagon CTO Emil Michael, who we reported has been spearheading negotiations with Anthropic. Michael may be familiar to longtime Verge readers and followers of Silicon Valley corporate drama as the former second-in-command at Uber when Travis Kalanick was CEO. Michael was pushed out in 2017 after an investigation found that he, and several other top executives that called themselves the “A-Team,” perpetuated a culture of sexual harassment at the company.
- For anyone curious about his history on surveillance: During a 2014 dinner with several journalists, Michael suggested that Uber hire opposition researchers to gather personal “dirt” on reporters publishing unfavorable news, suggesting that he’d wanted to target one female reporter who had recently criticized the company for its culture of misogyny. This was also around the time that Uber drew controversy for an internal tool known as “God Mode,” which employees used to track the movements of its users, including one BuzzFeed journalist who was writing about an Uber executive.
- Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg, the founder of the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, which manages roughly $65 billion in assets and specializes in “distressed properties.” Feinberg, who’s widely blamed for the death of the auto manufacturer Chrysler, was also an early supporter of Donald Trump, donating to his 2016 presidential campaign and serving on the president’s intelligence advisory board in 2018. During his 2025 Senate confirmation hearing, Feinberg touted Cerberus’ investments in several companies involved in national security, saying he had “significant experience with the Pentagon as a contractor and understand[s] how it functions and is organized.”
- At the time, Democrats raised concerns that Feinberg would have conflicts of interest due to Cerberus’ numerous investments in defense companies such as DynCorp. (That year, DynCorp settled a lawsuit with the Department of Justice over allegations that it had “knowingly inflated subcontractor charges under a State Department contract to train Iraqi police forces.”)
- In 2023, while Feinberg was still at Cerberus, the firm launched Cerberus Ventures, a venture capital arm that invests in early-stage companies that address national security issues in critical infrastructure.
- Hegseth’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, an Army veteran who, in 2021, attempted to run for an open Senate seat in Pennsylvania. While he won Trump’s endorsement in the heated Republican primary, he was forced to drop out in November after his ex-wife made several allegations of serious physical and psychological abuse during a custody hearing. She was afforded full legal custody. (Dr. Mehmet Oz, now serving in the Trump administration, subsequently won the nomination.)
Feinberg and Michael’s presence should draw eyeballs. Yes, they both have some amount of defense industry experience: Michael was a White House fellow during the Obama administration, and spent two years as a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon, which isn’t nothing. Feinberg has clearly spent time with defense contracts. But one must fully appreciate the rapacious business mindset that private sector types love to bring into the government — especially with high-stakes negotiations such as this. Parnell’s presence, meanwhile, makes sense within the context of “being the spokesman for Pete Hegseth.”
The single-supplier shuffle
One topic Hayden and I didn’t get to explore more was the “single-supplier vulnerability” issue, but it’s turning into a crucial factor in negotiations.
In 2024, the Biden administration released a national security memorandum on the use of artificial intelligence, which laid out several directives regarding the protection of the supply chain. Among them was a directive for the Department of Defense to maintain contracts with at least two frontier AI labs that were cleared to handle classified information, in order to prevent a scenario where one compromised vendor could take down an entire IT system. But as early as the summer of 2025, I’m told, the Trump administration was trying to address that vulnerability. While they had signed separate contracts with Anthropic, Google, xAI, and OpenAI, only Anthropic’s model was cleared for classified use when Hegseth published his memo outlining his new AI policy in January.
This has placed the Pentagon in a tight situation: Even if they successfully cut out Anthropic and go through the arduous process of making every defense contractor remove Claude from their workflows, they would risk being out of compliance with the Department’s own guidelines, to say nothing of common sense. (Avoiding single-supplier vulnerability is a very basic practice in the tech industry.)
It certainly provides more context to the Pentagon’s decision last night to suddenly grant xAI’s Grok access to classified systems, even though Grok is widely considered the least capable of the available models. While The New York Times reported that Google is also close to signing a deal allowing the Pentagon to use Gemini for classified work, defense insiders view Gemini as a quality rival to Claude, while xAi’s Grok “is not considered as advanced or as reliable as Anthropic’s.” OpenAI is not close to a deal, as the company reportedly believes that it must improve ChatGPT’s safety features before deploying it on classified networks.
So let’s do the math. You have four AI models, and you’re required to work with two of them. Your choices are:
1) A company with a pretty good AI model and increasingly flexible morals
2) A company with the best AI model, but which refuses to let you use it for autonomously killing people without human input
3) A company whose AI model isn’t secure enough to deploy yet
4) A company whose AI has racist hallucinations and generates child porn, and that you don’t consider “advanced [or] reliable”
If you can’t contract with companies 2 and 3, you’re stuck with companies 1 and 4, which even Defense officials admit is not optimal from a national security perspective. “The only reason we’re still talking to these people [Anthropic] is we need them and we need them now. The problem for these guys is they are that good,” a Defense official told Axios ahead of the meeting.
The latest Clarity Act negotiations between finance and crypto last week inadvertently turned into the latest episode of recurring segment I’m now calling: “Why is Laura Loomer tweeting about obscure deep-cut tech issues as if they are MAGA loyalty tests?”
Last Thursday, a small group of powerful crypto and finance players met at the White House to continue hashing out draft language over stablecoin yields. Coinbase, which sparked these negotiations after it withdrew support from Clarity over stablecoin yields, was in attendance. Prior to the meeting, however, Loomer tweeted a classic banger that demonstrated the tactics she uses to wield influence over Trump: Cast the target as someone who once supported Trump’s enemies and is therefore disloyal.
Ironically, Coinbase has turned into one of the biggest branded boosters of the Trump administration, donating money to his pet initiatives and even having their logo splashed all over last year’s military parade.
Though Loomer tweeted a similar sentiment about Coinbase last June, it seems to have had no impact on whether Coinbase has access to Trump, and likely won’t for a while: I’m told that CEO Brian Armstrong was at Mar-a-Lago the day before Loomer tweeted, attending a World Liberty Financial event.
A wild Trumpworld character has appeared!
If you followed the saga of Logan Paul auctioning off his Pokémon card collection, you may be aware that one of those cards sold for a record-setting $16.5 million last week. But who’s that Pokémon purchaser? It’s AJ Scaramucci, the son of the one and only Anthony Scaramucci, the New York financier and former Trump ally who famously served as Trump’s White House Communications Director in 2017 for 10 days.
AJ is the founder of Solari Capital, which invested $100 million in a Bitcoin mining platform run by Eric Trump. He also now owns the Pikachu Illustrator card, one of only 39 cards in existence and in Grade 10 condition, as well as the diamond chain and carrying case that Paul wore to display the card when he appeared at WrestleMania 38. Scaramucci told reporters that he purchased the card as part of his upcoming “planetary treasure hunt,” adding that he also hoped to purchase a T. rex skull and the Declaration of Independence. (He later posted on X that he hoped to place the card in the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto and cement it as “the ‘Mona Lisa’ of the Pokemon franchise.”)
We can’t believe that a court has to tell you this, much less the Southern District of New York: If you put correspondence between you and your lawyer into a publicly available AI platform, it is no longer protected by attorney-client privilege and becomes subject to discovery!!!!
In any case, have a pleasant State of the Union watch party (if anyone does that anymore) and see you next week.
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I am immensely grateful to Sam, Mark, Aditya and Jakub for fostering a research environment that allowed us to pursue ideas off-the-beaten path from the company’s mainline roadmap. It’s tempting in life to mode collapse to the most important thing, but cultivating entropy is the only way for a research lab to thrive long-term, and Sam deeply understands this. Sora was a project that could not have happened anywhere but OpenAI, and I will always deeply love this place for that.
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For many people, games like Words With Friends are a relaxing way to pass the time. You play a few rounds, chat with opponents and enjoy a little mental exercise. But scammers have quietly turned these casual games into hunting grounds.
They look for players who appear friendly, are older, or are recently widowed. Then they start a conversation. At first, it feels harmless. A compliment. A friendly message. A question about where you live.
Weeks later, the conversation often shifts to money. Angela from Lake Mary, MN, recently wrote to us about a situation that has her entire family worried.
“My sister, who lost her Doctor husband of 56 years 1.5 years ago, is communicating with a man she met on an internet game, “Words with Friends”. She is buying him gift cards and giving him the number so he can cash them. My nephews took her to their local police dept and they told her it’s a scam! Dangerous and to STOP. She doesn’t believe anyone!!! Is there a way to find out where these emails and texts are coming from??? We are very concerned! Hope you have some advice.” Angela, Lake Mary, MN
Angela’s situation is heartbreaking. Sadly, it is also very common. Authorities consider these romance scams. They cost victims billions each year. According to the Federal Trade Commission, romance scams remain one of the most expensive fraud categories reported by consumers.
NEW FBI WARNING REVEALS PHISHING ATTACKS HITTING PRIVATE CHATS
Scammers are using casual word games like Words With Friends to target older and grieving players, often turning friendly chats into costly gift card fraud. (Anastasiia Havrysh/Getty Images)
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How the Words With Friends scam usually begins
Scammers often start inside casual apps where conversation feels natural. Games like Words With Friends allow players to chat during matches. That simple feature creates the perfect entry point for criminals.
The pattern often follows the same steps. First, the scammer begins a friendly conversation during a game. Next, they ask to move the conversation to email, text or a messaging app. Then they begin building emotional trust. Many claim to be widowed, traveling for work or working overseas.
Eventually, a crisis appears. They claim they need help paying a bill, fixing a problem or buying supplies. Finally, they ask for money through gift cards. Once the gift card numbers are sent, the money is usually gone.
Why gift cards are a major warning sign
Gift cards are one of the biggest red flags in scams. Criminals prefer them because they are fast and difficult to trace. Once someone shares the numbers on the back of the card, the scammer can redeem the balance immediately.
There is almost no way to recover the money after that. Legitimate people do not ask strangers or online acquaintances for gift cards. If someone you met online asks for them, treat it as a serious warning sign.
Can you find where the emails or texts are coming from?
Angela asked whether it is possible to trace the messages. Sometimes it is. Often it is difficult. Scammers work hard to hide their identity and location.
They often use:
- VoIP numbers such as Google Voice
- Email accounts created specifically for scams
- VPN services that hide their true location
Because of this, a message may appear to come from the United States even if the scammer is overseas. Still, there are a few steps that can sometimes uncover clues.
Check the full email headers for clues
If the communication is happening by email, the full email header may reveal the route the message traveled. Headers sometimes contain the originating IP address. That address may show the country where the email began its journey.
Free tools such as Google’s Messageheader analyzer, MXToolbox and Microsoft’s Message Header Analyzer can break down email headers and show the path a message traveled across mail servers.
While this information will not usually reveal the scammer’s true identity, it can sometimes indicate the network or country where the email originated.
APPLE PAY TEXT SCAM ALMOST COST HER $15,000
Romance scammers are moving from dating apps to online games, where casual conversation can quickly turn into requests for gift cards and money. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Reverse search the photos
Romance scammers almost always steal photos from real people. Those photos often come from social media profiles or professional websites. You can upload the images to reverse search tools such as Google Images.
If the same photo appears under multiple names or accounts, that is strong evidence of a scam. Showing that proof sometimes helps victims reconsider what is happening.
Search the phone number or username
Another simple step is searching for the contact information online. Enter the phone number, email address or username along with words like scam or romance scam.
Many scammers reuse the same identity across multiple victims. In some cases, other people have already reported the same name or number. Finding those reports can help reveal the pattern.
Report the account inside the game
If the conversation began on Words With Friends, the account can be reported directly through the game. Companies investigate reports and often remove accounts involved in fraud.
That action will not always stop the scammer completely. However, it can prevent them from targeting additional players.
The hardest part of these scams
The emotional connection can be stronger than the evidence. Scammers spend weeks building trust. They learn about the victim’s life, their losses and their fears. Then they present themselves as someone who understands.
For someone who is grieving or lonely, that connection can feel very real. Experts often recommend approaching the situation carefully.
Avoid accusations or heated arguments. Instead, focus on protecting finances and calmly presenting evidence.
Family members may also help by monitoring financial activity or encouraging a pause before sending money.
GOOGLE SEARCH LED TO A COSTLY SCAM CALL
Experts warn that scammers often build trust for weeks inside games and messaging apps before inventing a crisis and asking victims to send gift cards. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
How to stay safe from Words With Friends and romance scams
Romance scams continue to grow. A few practical steps can help reduce the risk.
1) Be cautious with strangers in online games
Friendly chat inside games can easily become manipulation. Be careful when strangers try to move the conversation elsewhere.
2) Never send gift cards to someone you met online
Gift cards are one of the most common tools used in scams. Treat any request for them as a warning sign.
3) Reverse search profile photos
Running a quick image search can reveal stolen photos used by scammers.
4) Talk to family before sending money
A second opinion can stop a scam before it becomes expensive.
5) Report scams to authorities
If you suspect fraud, report it to the Federal Trade Commission at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Reports help investigators track organized criminal networks.
6) Keep conversations inside the game platform
Scammers almost always try to move the conversation to text, email or messaging apps. Staying inside the game platform makes it easier to report suspicious behavior.
7) Monitor credit and financial accounts
Some scammers eventually ask victims for personal details such as bank information or identification documents. Monitoring your credit reports and financial accounts can help detect suspicious activity early. See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at Cyberguy.com.
8) Reduce how much personal information appears online
Scammers often research potential victims through people-search websites and public records. Limiting the personal details that appear online can make it harder for criminals to target you. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.
9) Watch for sudden emergencies or travel stories
Romance scammers often claim they are working overseas, stuck on an oil rig or deployed in the military. These stories are designed to explain why they cannot meet in person.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Angela’s story shows how easily these scams can begin. They often start in places that feel harmless. A simple word game. A friendly chat. A conversation that slowly becomes personal. By the time money enters the picture, the emotional bond may already feel strong. That is why families must focus on patience and protection. Helping someone step back from a scam can take time, but support and evidence can make a difference.
If a friendly opponent in a simple word game started messaging you every day, would you recognize the moment when the conversation turns into a scam? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report
- Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox.
- For simple, real-world ways to spot scams early and stay protected, visit CyberGuy.com trusted by millions who watch CyberGuy on TV daily.
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This weekend’s scheduled Blue Origin rocket launch is rather momentous. Success would signal an end to SpaceX’s monopoly on reusable orbital launch vehicles, and set up a three-way race to make that “No Service” indicator on your phone disappear forever.
On Sunday morning, Jeff Bezos’ massive New Glenn rocket is scheduled to launch with the first-stage booster that launched and landed on the program’s second mission last November. It’s a critical test, because cost-effective booster reuse is what’s made SpaceX’s Falcon 9 so dominate.
Amazon desperately needs a reusable rocket of its own to accelerate its Leo launches. Without one, it’s only been able to launch 241 Leo satellites, putting it well behind schedule. In that same 12-month time period, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was able to deploy over 1,500 satellites to its Starlink constellation.
Sunday’s mission will carry AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite to low Earth orbit. Instead of blanketing the region with thousands of small satellites like Amazon and SpaceX, AST’s plan is to deploy fewer satellites that are much more powerful. Bluebird 7 features a massive 2,400-square-foot phased-array antenna, making it the largest commercial communications array ever deployed in low Earth orbit. It’s essentially a cell tower in space, and will be the second of the company’s “Block 2” next-generation satellites to launch.
The BlueBird 7 is designed to provide 4G and 5G broadband, at speeds exceeding 120 Mbps, to the phones we already carry. AST plans to have 45 to 60 satellites launched by the end of 2026. When AST lights up its service sometime this year, it will be in direct competition with Starlink’s direct-to-cell service, already operating with T-Mobile in the US, and Globalstar, the satellite network snapped up by Amazon that keeps iPhones and Apple Watches communicating in dead zones.
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