NASA chief worried Musk may have shared sensitive national security info in calls to Putin

25 October 2024

The head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is now calling for a federal investigation into Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk after news broke of his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the world's richest man — who has become one of former President Donald Trump's most outspoken supporters — has had multiple conversations with Putin since late 2022. The paper reported that while the two talked mostly about space exploration in their first call, they have since delved into talks about Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine.

"Musk has forged deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, giving him unique visibility into some of America’s most sensitive space programs," the Journal wrote. "SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, won a $1.8 billion classified contract in 2021 and is the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA. Musk has a security clearance that allows him access to certain classified information."

The SpaceX CEO has previously said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania that he already has a top-secret security clearance. Now, NASA administrator (and former U.S. senator from Florida) Bill Nelson is calling for Musk's calls to Putin to be investigated, saying it's "concerning" that someone with access to national secrets is having regular private conversations with a foreign adversary.

"If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies," Nelson said at the Semafor World Economy Summit.

It's already a violation of federal law for any private citizen to have conversations with foreign leaders without prior authorization from the sitting administration. The Logan Act of 1799 stipulates that anyone who has unauthorized talks with foreign governments can be punished with fines and/or a prison sentence of up to three years.

The South African centabillionaire has also reportedly had talks with other high-ranking Russian officials. The Journal reported that Musk has spoken with Sergei Kiriyenko, who the DOJ accused in a recent affidavit of creating roughly 30 domains aimed at spreading disinformation. That disinformation campaign was focused on both undermining U.S. support for Ukraine and at sowing false information on Musk's social media platform X (formerly Twitter) about the 2024 election.

Musk is already in hot water over his $1 million daily giveaways to registered voters in battleground states. The Department of Justice recently warned him that paying people to register to vote is a federal crime, which led Musk to suspend his swing state sweepstakes for the remainder of the election cycle.

The White House has not yet stated whether it would investigate Musk, with National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby saying he's familiar with the Journal's reporting on Musk's calls with Putin.

"I’m not a position to corroborate the veracity of those reports, and we would refer you to Mr. Musk to speak to his private communications," Kirby said.

Click here to read the Journal's report in its entirety (subscription required).

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