Hegseth names investor who made anti-Islam remarks about Mamdani to Pentagon tech board

The Defense Department has appointed to its recently established Science, Technology and Innovation Board (STIB) a Silicon Valley venture capitalist accused of making Islamophobic remarks targeting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth named Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, to the board along with 32 other appointees, according to a Pentagon post to social media on Wednesday. A photograph and biography of Maguire appears along with other board members on the STIB website.

“By bringing together top-tier talent that combines scientific and technical rigor with private-sector agility, the STIB serves as a single, unified voice for innovation,” according to the announcement. “This newly integrated board replaces competing recommendations with fast, coherent guidance to support and equip the Joint Force.”

Maguire previously labeled Mamdani as an “Islamist” and attacked him on social media while he was running for mayor of America’s most populated city. 

Maguire accused Mamdani, who is of Indian descent and born in Uganda, as coming “from a culture that lies about everything” to advance an “Islamist agenda,” after it was........

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