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.” 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.…