One of many earliest members of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is within the technique of pivoting into his second act as a protection tech startup founder. Ethan Shaotran, one of many young engineers who shaped the core of the group’s early strike pressure, is the founding father of a brand new startup known as Blitz Industries. The corporate’s web site supplies no info, however in an electronic mail seen by WIRED, Shaotran describes Blitz as a “a protection firm backed by massive names.”
Whereas at DOGE, Shaotran was a part of the group that created a makeshift headquarters within the Common Companies Administration’s (GSA) places of work earlier than fanning out throughout the federal authorities. Shaotran, who left Harvard College throughout his senior yr to affix DOGE, appeared in a number of businesses, together with the GSA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Social Security Administration, the US Postal Service, the US African Improvement Basis, and the Inter-American Basis. Whereas Shaotran was at SSA, DOGE moved hundreds of immigrants into the company’s “Grasp Demise File,” successfully shutting down their social safety numbers and thereby eradicating their proper to work or entry authorities advantages.
Shaotran left the federal authorities in January, in line with his LinkedIn, and is now primarily based in Los Angeles. In his bio, Shaotran describes himself as “Harvard engineer, 4x patent inventor, and printed researcher on autonomous techniques.” He additionally writes, “Quickly hiring!” in his bio.
The System for Award Administration (SAM), the procurement web site for the US authorities the place most contractors and grantees are required to register, lists an organization known as “Blitz Industries, Inc.” as lately registered within the system, categorized underneath firms that do “Analysis and Improvement within the Bodily, Engineering, and Life Sciences (Besides Nanotechnology and Biotechnology).” A supply who previously labored on SAM and spoke to WIRED on the situation of anonymity for concern of retaliation, says that registration on the system is mostly a precursor to receiving authorities contracts.
The tackle included within the registration is situated in Hawthorne, California, throughout the road from the SpaceX headquarters. WIRED was capable of establish an organization known as “Blitz Industries, Inc.” that was registered in Delaware on February 12, 2026, a couple of month after Shaotran left the federal authorities. Paperwork from the Delaware registration point out an annual tax evaluation of $176,986, and 25,000,000 licensed shares. There doesn’t look like a registered California enterprise entity, though the workplace’s bodily tackle seems to be in that state.
It’s not clear if Shaotran has already procured contracts with the federal government, and he didn’t reply to a telephone name requesting an interview concerning the firm.
In keeping with current reporting from The Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is increasing the pool of contractors it’s prepared to work with, opening the best way for smaller, newer firms to entry the hundreds of billions of dollars obtainable within the protection finances. Enterprise funds poured over $49.1 billion into protection tech startups in 2025 alone. The highly effective enterprise agency a16z, as a part of its American Dynamism follow, has heavily invested in defense startups. In March 2025, the agency posted a primer on getting contracts with the Pentagon. Gavin Kliger, one other younger DOGE engineer, is now the chief data officer on the Division of Protection, the place he might be overseeing the company’s AI technique.
Don Moynihan, a professor of public coverage on the College of Michigan, says that whereas the US authorities has the capability to innovate as shortly and broadly as personal companies, significantly round weapons and army innovation, he has his suspicions about an organization led by a former DOGE member.
