Story by Tom Perkins
Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, earned over $420,000 during his tenure as a board member for a consultancy that is now helping Pete Hegseth plan the next phase of the disastrous Iran war, according to tax filings.
The MITRE Corporation is coordinating the controversial Project Meridian: “The Future of Warfare,” which is bringing together weapons manufacturers and tech leaders like Elon Musk to map out the future of U.S. warfare in Iran and beyond. Some have raised questions over conflicts of interest among those leading the project.
Rogers, an establishment war hawk and former member of Congress, served on MITRE’s board of trustees, including a stint as its chair, for six years through 2023. He left as he launched his first campaign for U.S. Senate during the 2024 election. The company’s CEO said Rogers was brought on for his “vast national security expertise,” and IRS records detail his annual earnings.
Rogers’ support for the operation in Iran has been a liability throughout the race against his opponent, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
“People say, well, ‘What date is it going to end?’ It shouldn’t be a date. It should be conditional,” Rogers told a right wing podcast host in March. “This is why Americans need to stop for a minute, come together and say, ‘let’s get this done, get it done right.’”
The war is among the drivers of stubborn, ongoing inflation and high gas prices, and polls show as many as 67% of Michigan voters disapprove of it. El-Sayed has hammered Rogers over his support for endless wars, and Rogers in recent weeks waffled on the operation in Iran, telling Fox News that “we need to start wrapping it down.”
The El-Sayed and Rogers campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Sept. 30 announced the MITRE-led Project Meridian as “an effort led by America’s best minds to study the future of warfare.” Hegseth named Musk, former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Palmer Luckey, founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries, as top officials.
Former defense officials noted to NPR that the project’s leaders could guide the U.S. to build more space assets or rely more on drones that Musk’s and Luckey’s companies produce, while making fewer tanks or other military equipment that they do not make. Musk is among Rogers’ largest supporters, backing him via the America PAC that Musk finances.
“There are a lot of issues impacting this race, but everyone understands that the Iran war is a primary reason for the high cost of gasoline and diesel,” said Bernie Porn, a Michigan pollster who found El-Sayed with a small lead over Rogers in late August. “And that is why you see states like Iowa and Kansas in play, so this is one more thing to tie Rogers to support for the Iran war.”
Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter in Detroit who covers the antiwar movement locally and nationally.
