SIMI VALLEY, California— This year’s Reagan National Defense Forum had a slightly different mix: fewer uniforms, more Silicon Valley and finance types.

The former likely reflected the Pentagon’s new restrictions on public engagements; the latter, a new willingness by financiers to invest in the defense industry. That trend was seemingly epitomized by JPMorgan Chase’s October announcement that it would invest up to $10 billion, as part of a much larger pledge, in “industries critical to national economic security and resiliency.”

“I'm happy this is taking place. I'm happy a lot of this venture capital money is going into things we really need, not things like social media, for example,” Dimon said on stage Saturday. “It's been obvious for a while. When Ukraine got invaded by the

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