A man wears a black “Make America Great Again” hat while attending a campaign rally with Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show trade fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024. Elon Musk (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin visit the campaign headquarters in Moscow on March 18, 2024.
Gabriel Grigorov | AFP | Getty Images
A senior Democrat says the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies should investigate reports that billionaire Elon Musk had multiple phone conversations with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, citing national security concerns. two senators said in a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.
Musk, who was appointed to the top government position by Republican President-elect Donald Trump, is CEO of aerospace company SpaceX, overseeing billions of dollars in contracts with the Pentagon and intelligence agencies.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Jack Reed, told Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Pentagon’s Inspector General about Musk’s involvement in the SpaceX program. , said the possibility of disqualification or exclusion should be investigated following recent reports. Meetings with Russian officials in October. Deprivation refers to exclusion from certain contracts or privileges.
“These relationships between Mr. Musk, a prominent adversary of the United States and a beneficiary of billions of dollars in US government funds, are material to Mr. Musk’s credibility as a government contractor and permit holder. “This raises many questions,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. Letter dated Friday.
Since the Wall Street Journal reported last month about Musk’s alleged contacts with Russia, several Democratic members of Congress have publicly called for an investigation into Musk’s communications with Moscow; The letter addressed to U.S. officials who may do so had not previously been reported.
The call for a federal investigation by Shaheen and Reid comes after Trump has spent more than $119 million on his re-election campaign and is backed by Musk, who was named co-secretary of the president-elect’s next department. Quite a milestone as he prepares to return to the House. Improving government efficiency.
SpaceX, Musk and the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon and Justice Department did not immediately respond to similar requests.
Report of contact with Russia
Reports of Musk’s contacts with Russian officials surfaced in 2022, and political scientist Ian Bremer, president of the consulting firm Eurasia Group, said Musk told him about the red line between the war in Ukraine and Russia’s use of nuclear weapons. He said he was told he had spoken to President Putin. Musk denied Bremer’s claims and said he only spoke to Putin about space 18 months ago.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month, citing unnamed U.S., European and Russian officials, that Musk had met multiple times with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and Chief of Staff Sergei Kiriyenko.
In their letter, Shaheen and Reid said they were “deeply concerned” by Musk’s reported conversations with Kiriyenko. He was accused of leading an AI-powered propaganda campaign on Musk’s social media platform X and other sites aimed at promoting Russian interests and influencing voters ahead of the U.S. presidential election this year. He was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice along with other Russian officials.
Mr. Musk has publicly claimed that he holds U.S. security credentials that give him access to classified information at SpaceX, which holds billions of dollars in Pentagon and NASA launch contracts. The company also has a $1.8 billion contract with intelligence agencies to build a massive spy satellite network, according to a Reuters report.
“Communications between Russian government officials and individuals with security clearance can jeopardize the security of our nation,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
Tensions between the United States and Russia in space have increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Pentagon officials have condemned questionable exercises with Russian satellites in orbit, and this year accused Russia of developing space-based nuclear weapons capable of disabling large satellite networks.
Mr. Musk’s SpaceX has come to dominate the U.S. space industry and is highly dependent on NASA and the Department of Defense.
The company’s Starlink Internet network of approximately 7,000 satellites has made SpaceX the world’s largest satellite operator and a disruptive force in the satellite Internet space, attracting intense interest from the Department of Defense for military communications. The Ukrainian military relies heavily on Starlink for battlefield connectivity.
The senators sent a separate letter to U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Friday saying his reported conversations with Musk reinforce the need for more competition in the launch and satellite communications industries. He said companies other than SpaceX need to be used more for sensitive national security missions.
“Mr. Musk’s reported actions could pose a serious risk to national security, and as the CEO of a company with billions of dollars of classified defense and intelligence contracts, the[Department of Defense]commercial space integration “We need to reconsider SpaceX’s outsized role in this.” the lawmakers said.
