Here is your Forbes Daily Briefing for Monday, July 8th.

Today on Forbes, why top nuclear experts and ex-CIA Brass

joined a high school grad's tiny fusion startup.

Since the first hydrogen bomb tests in the 1950s,

scientists have struggled to develop a practical fusion energy source,

one that would mimic the reactions that power the sun for safe use here on Earth.

The promise is world changing, an infinite abundance of energy vastly more powerful than fossil fuels

without the associated carbon pollution.

Now, with the help of one of Iran's top nuclear scientists,

a small team of former Pentagon and CIA officials are taking on that goal.

Realistically, it's far off.

Scientific consensus is that viable commercial fusion is at least a decade away, maybe two.

But in the meantime, the company, called... at least a decade away, maybe two.

But in the meantime, the company, called Fuse,

has more immediate term plans,

using fusion technology to develop radiation testing

facilities that simulate the effects of nuclear weapons on machinery.

Fuse hopes to generate revenue from government contracts that can support its long-term

R&D efforts, a business model that has excited Silicon Valley investors like Buckley

Ventures and serial entrepreneur Sky Dayton, enough to pour more than $20 million into the company.

Helming the unlikely team of military 20 million dollars into the company.

Helming the unlikely team of military officials and scientists is

...