The Trump Administration’s so-called Department of War, worried about its very expensive appetite for wars and weapons, and in love with “crowding in” private capital financing, has launched another Schachtian slush fund within its Office of Strategic Capital, called the National Security Fund Finance (sic: NSFF). According to the Pentagon, its purpose is “to provide capital support for credit funds that address gaps, shortages and vulnerabilities in critical minerals essential to U.S. national security.” In other words, this fund (total amount not specified) will provide seed capital to “private investment fund managers,” to make what those managers can sell to the NSFF as “strategic” investments in startups or existing defense firms.
Nothing in the initial announcements indicates what the ratio of taxpayer to private funding, or limits on the war loans, might be, nor is it limited to U.S. investment managers or U.S. investment targets. The Pentagon funds may come from the Big Beautiful Bill leftovers.
