Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has welcomed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into the Pentagon, where Musk’s protégés aim to cut eight percent from next year’s budget. There’s certainly a need for more efficiency at the Pentagon, which has failed seven audits in a row and still relies on fax machines for its weapons acquisition process.
But is Elon Musk the man for the job?
The biggest problem with letting Musk have access to this information is not that he’s overzealous, misguided, unelected, or wealthy—it’s that he and his staff pose significant national security risks.
There is no evidence that Musk has the responsibility, knowledge, or understanding of the reasons and procedures for protecting sensitive personal or national security data. Indeed, there is rather extensive evidence to the contrary.
Before Donald Trump returned to office, Musk became the subject of no fewer than three military security reviews and was denied high-level security access by the Air Force. The reason for this scrutiny is Musk’s extensive ties to foreign adversaries, which has allegedly included multiple, high-level conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials, which were not disclosed as required by law.
Musk also has extensive ties to China. Tesla, Musk’s electric car company makes about half of its automobiles at a massive Shanghai plant known as the “Gigafactory” and had to borrow around $1.4 billion from state-controlled banks. These entanglements can prove worrisome because Chinese intelligence law gives the communist regime free and unfettered access to any corporate data of interest.
As someone who has spent years overseeing the verification and compliance of arms control agreements, I understand how important it is to protect national security-sensitive data. The information DOGE would have access to is not limited to spreadsheets of inefficiencies—it includes vital details on U.S. military and intelligence capabilities, readiness, and strategic deterrence. Allowing Musk’s organization access to such information risks compromising the nuclear force posture assessments, arms treaty compliance reports, and national security directives that are crucial to maintaining U.S. strategic superiority.
We simply cannot risk China or Russia gaining access to national security data, including Defense Department records, Department of Energy data on U.S. nuclear capabilities, and intelligence community data on U.S. collection capabilities.
If China or Russia gain access to the DoD data DOGE will need to carry out its audit, they could obtain an inside view of the U.S. military’s capabilities and weaknesses. This could help Russia in its ongoing spat with Ukraine or provide China with a clear edge in any future conflict over Taiwan.
Perhaps Musk would prefer it that way. In 2022, he proposed turning the island nation into a “special administrative zone” of the People’s Republic, the same status that failed to save Hong Kong from CCP tyranny. He’s also criticized any attempts to economically decouple the U.S. from China, despite the national security threats this entanglement poses.
When dealing with arms control negotiations and matters related to U.S. treaty compliance, I saw firsthand how sensitive data can be leveraged by adversaries. Safeguarding national security information is a fundamental necessity for maintaining U.S. global power and the nation’s overall strategy of deterrence.
The Trump administration must proceed with caution. DOGE’s mission may be a reasonable one, but if Musk’s involvement ends up exposing sensitive civilian and military data to our greatest geopolitical adversaries, a few billion in government waste will be the least of our problems.
Paula A. DeSutter was United States Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation from 2002 to 2009.
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