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Emil Michael and the Trump administration are recasting U.S. defense procurement…

2026-06-16 · 22:31 UTC ·@tbpn ·1 min read

Brief

Emil Michael and the Trump administration are recasting U.S. defense procurement as a 'Department of War,' pushing to dismantle cost-plus contracts in favor of lean, fast firms. Garry Tan says cost-plus is 50–80 years out of date, claims defense primes can't structurally innovate and that this failure risks service members' lives, while the administration opens work to 10–20 person teams in Boston, Austin, SF, and Gundo.

Source evidence

"Emil Michael and our friends in the Trump administration are changing everything. It's a new Department of War."

@garrytan says the admin is making real strides toward dismantling the cost-plus procurement structure to the benefit of leaner, faster, more innovative firms:

"Cost-plus was originally designed to be something that created more innovation. But what was needed 50 or 80 years ago, that's the wrong thing now."

"The defense primes are just not innovating. They can't. It's structural."

"What makes me mad is, there are service members who are going to die in service of our country — to defend liberty — and they're giving their lives because defense primes are not doing the job they're supposed to be doing. They're not innovating, they're not bringing new technologies to the fore."

"Credit to the Department of War. For the first time in decades, they're actually open to a team of 10-20 people, whether it's in Boston, Austin, SF, or Gundo."

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