One of DOGE’s Young Engineers Is Now Running a Defense Tech Startup
One of DOGE’s Young Engineers Is Now Running a Defense Tech Startup
DOGE 的一名年轻工程师现正运营一家国防科技初创公司
One of the earliest members of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is in the process of pivoting into his second act as a defense tech startup founder. Ethan Shaotran, one of the young engineers who formed the core of the group’s early strike force, is the founder of a new startup called Blitz Industries. The company’s website provides no information, but in an email viewed by WIRED, Shaotran describes Blitz as a “a defense company backed by big names.”
所谓的“政府效率部”（DOGE）最早期的成员之一，目前正转型开启他的第二职业生涯，成为了一家国防科技初创公司的创始人。Ethan Shaotran 是构成该组织早期突击队核心的年轻工程师之一，他现在是一家名为 Blitz Industries 的新初创公司的创始人。该公司网站未提供任何信息，但在《连线》（WIRED）杂志看到的一封电子邮件中，Shaotran 将 Blitz 描述为一家“由大牌支持的国防公司”。
While at DOGE, Shaotran was part of the team that created a makeshift headquarters in the General Services Administration’s (GSA) offices before fanning out across the federal government. Shaotran, who left Harvard University during his senior year to join DOGE, appeared in multiple agencies, including the GSA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Social Security Administration, the US Postal Service, the US African Development Foundation, and the Inter-American Foundation. While Shaotran was at SSA, DOGE moved thousands of immigrants into the agency’s “Master Death File,” effectively shutting down their social security numbers and thereby removing their right to work or access government benefits.
在 DOGE 任职期间，Shaotran 是在总务管理局（GSA）办公室建立临时总部的团队成员之一，随后他们分散到联邦政府各部门。Shaotran 在哈佛大学大四时退学加入 DOGE，他曾出现在多个机构，包括 GSA、国家海洋和大气管理局、社会保障局、美国邮政署、美国非洲发展基金会和美洲基金会。当 Shaotran 在社会保障局（SSA）工作时，DOGE 将数千名移民移入了该机构的“死亡主档案”（Master Death File），实际上注销了他们的社会保障号码，从而剥夺了他们工作或获取政府福利的权利。
Shaotran left the federal government in January, according to his LinkedIn, and is now based in Los Angeles. In his bio, Shaotran describes himself as “Harvard engineer, 4x patent inventor, and published researcher on autonomous systems.” He also writes, “Rapidly hiring!” in his bio.
根据其领英（LinkedIn）资料，Shaotran 于 1 月离开联邦政府，目前常驻洛杉矶。在个人简介中，Shaotran 将自己描述为“哈佛工程师、四项专利发明人，以及自动系统领域的已发表研究者”。他还在简介中写道：“正在快速招聘！”
The System for Award Management (SAM), the procurement website for the US government where most contractors and grantees are required to register, lists a company called “Blitz Industries, Inc.” as recently registered in the system, categorized under companies that do “Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (Except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology).” A source who formerly worked on SAM and spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, says that registration on the system is generally a precursor to receiving government contracts.
美国政府的采购网站“奖励管理系统”（SAM）是大多数承包商和受赠方必须注册的平台。该系统显示，一家名为“Blitz Industries, Inc.”的公司近期已完成注册，分类属于“物理、工程和生命科学（纳米技术和生物技术除外）研发”类公司。一位曾供职于 SAM 并因担心报复而要求匿名的消息人士称，在该系统注册通常是获得政府合同的前奏。
The address included in the registration is located in Hawthorne, California, across the street from the SpaceX headquarters. WIRED was able to identify a company called “Blitz Industries, Inc.” that was registered in Delaware on February 12, 2026, about a month after Shaotran left the federal government. Documents from the Delaware registration indicate an annual tax assessment of $176,986, and 25,000,000 authorized shares. There does not appear to be a registered California business entity, although the office’s physical address appears to be in that state.
注册地址位于加利福尼亚州霍桑市，与 SpaceX 总部隔街相望。《连线》确认，一家名为“Blitz Industries, Inc.”的公司于 2026 年 2 月 12 日在特拉华州注册，大约在 Shaotran 离开联邦政府一个月后。特拉华州的注册文件显示，其年度税额评估为 176,986 美元，授权股份为 2500 万股。目前似乎没有注册的加州商业实体，尽管该办公室的实际地址似乎位于该州。
It’s not clear if Shaotran has already procured contracts with the government, and he did not respond to a phone call requesting an interview about the company.
目前尚不清楚 Shaotran 是否已经获得了政府合同，他也没有回复要求就该公司进行采访的电话。
According to recent reporting from The Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is expanding the pool of contractors it is willing to work with, opening the way for smaller, newer companies to access the hundreds of billions of dollars available in the defense budget. Venture funds poured over $49.1 billion into defense tech startups in 2025 alone. The powerful venture firm a16z, as part of its American Dynamism practice, has heavily invested in defense startups. In March 2025, the firm posted a primer on getting contracts with the Pentagon. Gavin Kliger, another young DOGE engineer, is now the chief data officer at the Department of Defense, where he will be overseeing the agency’s AI strategy.
据《华尔街日报》近期报道，五角大楼正在扩大其愿意合作的承包商范围，为规模较小、较新的公司获取国防预算中数千亿美元的资金铺平了道路。仅 2025 年，风险投资基金就向国防科技初创公司投入了超过 491 亿美元。强大的风投公司 a16z 作为其“美国活力”（American Dynamism）业务的一部分，已对国防初创公司进行了大量投资。2025 年 3 月，该公司发布了一份关于如何获得五角大楼合同的入门指南。另一位年轻的 DOGE 工程师 Gavin Kliger 现任国防部首席数据官，他将负责监督该机构的 AI 战略。
Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, says that while the US government has the capacity to innovate as quickly and broadly as private businesses, particularly around weapons and military innovation, he has his suspicions about a company led by a former DOGE member.
密歇根大学公共政策教授 Don Moynihan 表示，虽然美国政府有能力像私营企业一样快速且广泛地进行创新，特别是在武器和军事创新方面，但他对由前 DOGE 成员领导的公司持怀疑态度。
“It sort of feels like they’re turning the government into a hacker house, where people come in, spend a little time, then go back out and build the startup that they can then monetize based on their experience in government,” says Moynihan. “I think that’s probably going to be profitable for some people. It’s not necessarily good for the US government, or for the public as a whole. I think it’s certainly not the most efficient model for making government more effective, if you want to go back to the original mission of DOGE.”
“这感觉就像他们把政府变成了‘黑客屋’（hacker house），人们进来待上一段时间，然后出去建立初创公司，并利用他们在政府的经验进行变现，”Moynihan 说。“我认为这对某些人来说可能是有利可图的。但这未必对美国政府或公众整体有利。如果你想回归 DOGE 的初衷，我认为这绝对不是让政府更高效的最有效模式。”
Margaret Mullins, former senior adviser to the deputy secretary of defense in the Biden administration, says that private companies taking an interest in making money off the DOD’s massive budget is nothing new, but “what is most important is the government maintains the ability and the desire to set its own priorities and requirements, rather than conflating national security needs with what the private sector wants the national security needs to be.”
拜登政府时期国防部副部长的前高级顾问 Margaret Mullins 表示，私营公司对从国防部庞大预算中获利感兴趣并非新鲜事，但“最重要的是政府要保持设定自身优先事项和要求的能力与意愿，而不是将国家安全需求与私营部门希望的国家安全需求混为一谈。”
Shaotran is not the only former DOGE member to have entered the startup space after their time in government. Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox, who spearheaded the DOGE takeover of the US Institute of Peace, have also launched a new startup called Special. In a deposition in a lawsuit filed by the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association over DOGE’s dismantling of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fox told interviewers, “We are buying businesses in senior care, adopting technology to pay the nurses and caregivers more so that the aging population has enough nurses to meet demand.” An early version of its website describes the company as “a technology investment platform” focused on crypto investments. Now, the site says that Special is a “holding company, building an AI operating system to transform critical American industries.”
Shaotran 并不是唯一一个在政府任职后进入初创领域的 DOGE 前成员。曾带头接管美国和平研究所的 Nate Cavanaugh 和 Justin Fox 也创办了一家名为 Special 的新初创公司。在美国学术团体理事会、美国历史协会和现代语言协会因 DOGE 解散国家人文基金会而提起的诉讼证词中，Fox 告诉采访者：“我们正在收购养老护理业务，采用技术手段为护士和护理人员支付更多报酬，以便老龄化人口有足够的护士来满足需求。”其网站的早期版本将该公司描述为专注于加密货币投资的“技术投资平台”。现在，该网站称 Special 是一家“控股公司，正在构建一个人工智能操作系统，以转型美国的关键产业。”
Two other DOGE members, Brooks Morgan and Adam Ramada, launched a Miami-based venture firm, and another DOGE member, Bridget Youngs, started a company to build large power transformers after leaving government.
另外两名 DOGE 成员 Brooks Morgan 和 Adam Ramada 在迈阿密创办了一家风险投资公司，而另一名 DOGE 成员 Bridget Youngs 在离开政府后创办了一家制造大型电力变压器的公司。
Maddy Varner contributed reporting.
Maddy Varner 对本文亦有贡献。