The 72nd gathering of Western power brokers will convene at the Bilderberg Group meeting in Washington, D.C., from April 9 to 12. This year’s event occurs earlier than usual. For decades, the group was dismissed as a fringe conspiracy. But today, even its critics admit it is real, influential, and carefully shielded from public scrutiny.
The list of participants reveals a dense concentration of political authority, financial power, and technological control. The composition is familiar, and so is the purpose: the event continues to function as a private coordination forum for a global order shaped by corporate, financial, and political elites moving in alignment.
Among attendees are Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who also co-chairs the new President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. A former chief technology officer at the Department of Defense (DOD), he helped lead the national push to expand 5G during the Covid era and later joined Scale AI. U.S. Interior Secretary Douglas Burgum is present; the multimillionaire and former North Dakota governor previously built Great Plains Software, sold it to Microsoft, where he remained as a senior executive, co-founded Arthur Ventures, and served on or chaired boards at major technology companies.
Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, represents the trade side, while Daniel Driscoll, secretary of the United States Army, and Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, add military dimensions to the gathering. The U.S. legislative branch is represented by Representatives Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) and Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
The tech delegation includes Alex Karp of Palantir Technologies, whose role in the U.S. Deep State is hard to overestimate; Seeded early by CIA-backed In-Q-Tel, Palantir helped pioneer the privatization of surveillance and intelligence functions once associated more directly with the state. Brian Schimpf of Anduril Industries reinforces defense technology presence, while Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO and now executive chair of Relativity Space, adds influence through his prior role on the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board.
Alexandr Wang, chief AI officer at Meta, brings one of the world’s most powerful data and AI platforms into the same orbit. Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft Corporation, is also attending. The gathering features representatives from academia, think tanks, and media corporations connected to Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, Ghent University, Warner Bros. Discovery, and the Hudson Institute and Hoover Institution.
European leadership forms a major pillar with attendees including Andrius Kubilius, the European commissioner for defense and space; Nadia Calviño, president of the European Investment Bank; national figures from the Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Poland, France, Ireland, Italy, and Turkey; and the king and queen of the Netherlands.
Global finance is represented by figures from Lazard, Goldman Sachs International, Amundi, Deutsche Bank, Norges Bank Investment Management, Erste Group Bank, and CVC Capital Partners. Corporate presence includes TotalEnergies, Siemens, ENGIE, BMW, Royal Philips, Pfizer, and Stripe. The meeting also brings together representatives from the International Monetary Fund, the European Investment Bank, and the Bank of Spain.
This year’s Bilderberg gathering underscores the convergence of power: corporate, financial, and political elites are shaping a global order through private coordination forums.
