Carlyle cut its teeth flipping defense contractors for grand returns under CEO Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of Defense. Carlucci died in 2018 which shows how long this game has been going on.
The Admiral is ready to do so again with help from General Bryan Fenton, Carlyle's new operating executive in the Defense-Government-Industrial (DGI) space. Fenton retired in November 2025 and already picked up two board seats, USAA and Mantech.
Carlyle is excited about the return of the go-go hypersonic defense spending days, calling investment opportunities "unlimited."
Limitless opportunity? Carlyle has a history of puffery.
"Unlimited" is as realistic as Elon Musk's promise that the new AI economy will provide everyone a penthouse.
Politicians Red & Blue got together to save college sports, another area targeted by private equity. Policy making billionaires, another Carlyle Group innovation, may also be making a comeback.
Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren. Increasingly, more are one.
TechGod penthouses have tight security, ready access to ketamine and spectacular views. Ours will have a centerfold. So that's why Grok undresses teens...Elon always fulfills his promises.
...we will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas corporate governance standards. Under the listing rules of Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power with respect to director elections is held by another person or group of persons acting together is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas corporate governance requirementsThis harkens back to when The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU) went public, but the three founders controlled the board makeup with their outsized share holdings.
CEO Antonio Gracias had resigned from his position working 80 hours a week for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. A Valor spokesperson stated that Gracias was no longer freelancing for the U.S. government.Gracias also sits on the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago. The Chicago Maroon reported on his DOGE involvement:
In meetings with senior staff, SSA Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has referred to Gracias and other DOGE staffers as “outsiders who are unfamiliar with nuances of SSA programs,” per a March 6 Washington Post article.
Despite DOGE staffers’ lack of experience, “I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions,” Dudek told senior SSA staff.
....didn’t just use untruths to justify their work at the Social Security Administration. They also used their own inability to analyze data, as well as massive hubris...
Update: An X post noted:
Step 1: Scrape the entire internet. Every book, every article, every conversation, every piece of art, every forum post. Do it without asking. Do it without paying.
Step 2: Train a model on all of it. Call it "artificial intelligence." Step 3: Go to BlackRock's Infrastructure Summit and announce: "We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter."
Step 3 is where you sell people's own knowledge back to them. On a meter. They took the collective output of human thought, compressed it into a model, and now they want to charge you by the token to access a version of what you and everyone you know already created.
One Reddit user put it perfectly: "They stole all this data from us, the people, our life's work, creativity, art, by devouring the internet and blowing through all copyright laws. Now they want to sell it back to us in the form of a utility."
Known as “one of Israel’s staunchest allies in the American defense establishment,” Ret. Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who just retired from his post as head of U.S. Central Command last summer, will feel right at home presenting the keynote at the Israeli-American Council's "Strength in Unity" gala tonight.
According to Jewish Insider's morning newsletter, others speaking at the event will include pro-Israel megadonor Miriam Adelson and former Mossad Deputy Director Henrike Weissberg.
General Kurilla was appointed Senior Advisor for Lazard last fall.
Lazard CEO Peter Orszag recently wrote a piece on State directed Capitalism which seems uniquely directed at AI, space, rare earths, defense, intelligence and energy.
The Pentagon targeted private equity collaboration after several key leadership appointees came from that sector. Lazard was already a major player in the PEU world but they added more capability with Campbell Lutyens.
Retired Generals and Admirals hold significant positions within major private equity underwriters (PEU). They also often work for TechGods, which more recently prioritized doing business with Uncle Sam (long a PEU practice).
Kurilla is my latest find, but I'm sure there are many more. Turn over a rock in Washington, D.C. and you may find a PEU, an elected official, a retired four star or a newly officed TechGod.
Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren. Increasingly, more are one.
An interview that aired on Fox News on Tuesday (May 19) has baffled viewers as it appeared that a guest was wearing a realistic rubber mask of their own face.Retired United States Navy SEAL Robert Harward appeared on America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino on Tuesday, where he discussed President Trump’s ongoing war with Iran. While Harward explained his thoughts on the conflict, viewers became distracted by his neck, which many believed looked like the seam of a mask.
It was nice of Fox News to make it so clear that the parade of retired generals and admirals have something to hide. It is rare for any news outlet in the U.S. to declare their guests actual line of work or their conflicts of interest.
Admiral James Stavridis is a regular on CNN and they rarely share his full time job, Vice Chair of The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU).
Harward has numerous positions, some with PEU attachments. Primarily he works for a TechGod, ShieldAI. Bob is also on the Board of Directors of Metatek, Mistril Technologies and CoTec. He serves on Academy Securities Advisory Board. He also serves on The Iran Policy Project for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
