Due to suspected multiple violations of federal reporting protocols, American billionaire Musk and his space exploration company SpaceX will face multiple reviews from the military, including many sensitive issues such as intelligence leaks.
Multi-departmental joint review
The New York Times reported on the 18th that Musk and SpaceX are currently facing three reviews, one from the U.S. Air Force, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, and the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.
Multiple insiders revealed that the root cause of this series of reviews is that Musk and SpaceX "repeatedly violated federal reporting regulations" and underreported or concealed many travel arrangements, including important plots of his meetings with certain foreign leaders. According to government confidentiality regulations, Musk must not only report his overseas travel to the Department of Defense, but also ensure a certain degree of transparency in his private life. However, Musk has no longer followed such regulations since at least 2021.
Reuters reported that in November this year, Musk was reported by two Democratic senators, saying that he had contacted several Russian officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The whistleblower also called on the Department of Defense and relevant law enforcement agencies to investigate Musk. However, the above three departments generally adopted an evasive attitude when facing media inquiries.
Two officials from the U.S. Department of Defense said that senior Pentagon officials were quite wary of the future "Minister of Government Efficiency" and had specifically instructed their subordinates not to discuss the "review of Musk" with others so as to avoid being "optimized."
Deny confidential permissions
Several media outlets have noted that the U.S. Air Force recently refused to grant Musk high-level security access, citing concerns about "potential security risks."
The Wall Street Journal reported that although Musk nominally enjoys "top secret" clearance, he does not have access to the U.S. government's "top secret," or "sensitive compartmented information (SCI)" that requires additional authorization.
However, some of SpaceX's launch projects work closely with the U.S. intelligence and security agencies, and such cooperation often touches on SCI. As a result, as the head of SpaceX, Musk is not only unable to enter "most of the confidential SpaceX facilities", but also does not know "what satellites are carried on the rockets launched by his company."
The New York Times said that the Air Force's concerns are not groundless. In recent years, many countries, including Israel, have questioned Musk's ability to keep secrets, worrying that he would spread sensitive information to others. Someone inside SpaceX also complained: "Musk will post almost everything online, from video games to diplomatic meetings."
Suspected of "retaliation"
Regarding Musk's latest move, some people suspect that he has been "retaliated" to some extent. After all, his relationship with the current government is not good. As the "head" of Tesla, Musk was sued by the National Labor Relations Board for anti-union as early as 2018, and Tesla was also excluded by other car companies.
As the conflict escalated, Musk was surprised that the Biden administration of the United States deliberately excluded Tesla from the "New Energy Vehicle Summit" held in August 2021. After the two sides "torn their faces", the U.S. Department of Transportation, Department of Justice, Department of the Interior and other market regulatory departments took turns to launch a series of inspections on Musk's companies and issued multiple huge fines.
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