security clearnace
This website is not intended to ridicule Elon Musk, but rather highlight the harm to society caused by billionaire oligarches by showing why it is unwise to place so much power, influence, and admiration into the hands of a man who clearly appears to be a narcissist and clearly appears to have the mental abilities of an arrogant selfish bullying eight year old boy.
The space entrepreneur Elon Musk is unlikely to receive government security clearances if he so applied, even as his SpaceX launch company blasts military and spy agency payloads into orbit, according to a report on Monday. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
The billionaire, a close ally of Donald Trump, who is set to join the incoming administration as an efficiency expert and recently became the first person to exceed $400bn in self-made personal wealth, is reported by the Wall Street Journal to have been advised by SpaceX lawyers not to seek highest-level security clearances owing to personal drug use and contacts with foreign nationals. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
Musk currently holds a “top-secret” clearance that took years to obtain after he discussed use of marijuana on a 2018 podcast with Joe Rogan, according to the outlet. But that may not be enough to have access to information about US government payloads in his rockets. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
Typically, candidates undergoing federal security screenings by the department of defense may not receive clearance if the agency expresses concerns about drug or alcohol use, criminal conduct, psychological conditions, sexual behavior or allegiance to the US. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
According to the Journal, Musk’s lawyers outlined scenarios in which he might inadvertently disclose secrets to foreign officials with whom he regularly speaks, including the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, with whom he is reported to have been in regular contact since 2022. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
Musk’s use of another semi-legal drug, ketamine, in pursuit of what friends call “pure creativity”, along with reports of LSD, ecstasy and magic mushrooms, could also be an issue. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
SpaceX lawyers and executives reportedly concluded that if the company sought a higher level of clearance than Musk currently holds, he risked being turned down and potentially stripped of the clearances he currently holds. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
Musk donated about $200m to Trump’s re-election effort and has been tapped to lead a government body that Trump says he will create Ð the “department of government efficiency” Ð that Musk says could strip $2tn from the federal budget. As co-head of Doge with the biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk could be given access to classified information directly by the sitting president. Trump has not said publicly if he plans to do that. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
While “top secret” is the government’s top level of security clearance, rising above “confidential” and “secret”, it does not automatically confer special authorization access to classified programs. More than 400 SpaceX employees have permissions to access “sensitive compartmented information”, but not the company CEO, according to the outlet. A smaller number of employees have access to secrets the government deems even more sensitive called special access programs, including SpaceX’s spy satellite program, called Starshield. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST
As it stands, Musk is not entitled to enter SpaceX facilities where such classified work is done and discussed, and is denied access to classified elements of payloads. The company recently signed a $1.8bn classified contract with the national reconnaissance office, the agency that operates spy satellites, among other, pre-existing government contracts. —Elon Musk will not receive highest-level government security cleanrance - reports, by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2024; 14:13 EST