Two Investors With Trump Family Ties Now Advise the Pentagon. Here's Why It Matters.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has appointed Marc Andreessen and Blake Masters to the Defense Policy Board, a group that advises the defense secretary on policy decisions. Both men are venture capitalists, and both have financial ties to a fund co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. The Guardian.
Venture capitalists invest other people's money into private companies, hoping those companies grow in value. Andreessen runs a firm called Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z. Masters sits on the boards of three companies connected to 1789 Capital, a fund that Donald Trump Jr. helps lead. The fund invests heavily in artificial intelligence and defense technology The Guardian; New York Times.
1789 Capital was co-founded by Chris Buskirk, Omeed Malik, and Rebekah Mercer. By late 2023, it had raised about $100 million from investors, including more than $15 million from the founders themselves New York Times. Paul Abrahimzadeh is also a partner 1789 Capital. The fund invests in military and space technology The Guardian.
Companies backed by both a16z and 1789 Capital have received billions of dollars in federal loans and contracts since the second Trump administration began The Guardian. The largest Department of Defense award to 1789 Capital so far is a $620 million loan to Vulcan Elements, a start-up focused on rare-earth materials. 1789 Capital was among the private investors who put $65 million into the company Crow House Press Release; Cato Institute. In 2023, a16z said it would invest $500 million in defense technology and other companies a16z; New York Times.
The Defense Policy Board was created in 1985 as an advisory committee. Hegseth shut it down in April 2025, removing members from several Pentagon advisory panels before restarting it The Guardian. The board has a history of members with ties to defense companies. A 2003 investigation found that at least nine of the board's 30 members had connections to defense contractors holding billions in Pentagon business The Guardian; Center for Public Integrity. Before the 2003 Iraq invasion, the board, then led by Richard Perle, helped build the case for war. Perle resigned in March 2003 amid conflict of interest allegations The Guardian.
The board has also been reshaped for political reasons. During the first Trump administration, a late-2020 shake-up removed former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright The Guardian; Foreign Policy. The Department of Defense also announced plans to appoint former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich Department of Defense.
On May 27, 2026, the Department of Defense announced a second round of appointments to a new group called the Science, Technology and Innovation Board, another advisory panel that also connects to the venture-backed defense-tech world Department of Defense.
The broader context here is about concentration of influence. Andreessen and Masters have direct, ongoing financial relationships to a fund co-founded by the president's son, and they now sit on a board that advises the most powerful defense purchasing agency in the federal government. The board's role is advisory only. It does not award contracts or loans. But the 2003 precedent shows how advisory influence can translate into real outcomes. Back then, board members with ties to defense contractors helped shape the case for a war that expanded defense spending, even though they had no formal power to approve contracts.
The financial connections run in multiple directions. a16z and 1789 Capital are co-investors in three defense contractors, meaning Andreessen and Trump Jr. both have a financial stake in the same companies. Masters holds board seats at three 1789-connected companies, giving him legal duties to those companies alongside his new advisory role. The companies in this overlapping portfolio have received billions in federal backing since January 2025. Whether the Pentagon's ethics rules will require the new appointees to step back from decisions, sell their investments, or disclose their financial interests will determine whether the board acts as an independent advisor or as a channel that gives venture capital firms with ties to the president closer access to defense contracting decisions. The 2003 board's experience, which ended in resignation and congressional scrutiny, is the precedent that matters.
