SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s knowledge of the work the space exploration company does for the U.S. military and intelligence community is limited by his security clearance level, but the company reportedly has not sought to secure a higher clearance for Musk over concerns about disclosures that could jeopardize his current clearance.
The Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter that SpaceX lawyers recommended that the company’s leadership not pursue a higher security clearance for Musk because he would have been asked about contacts with foreign officials as well as his prior drug use.
Musk holds a “top secret” clearance that gives him access to some of SpaceX’s sensitive programs. However, he does not have the higher level authorizations for “sensitive compartmented information” that roughly 400 SpaceX employees have, nor the permissions for “special access programs” that a smaller number of the company’s workers have, the Journal reported.
SpaceX’s legal team explored risks that could arise from pursuing a more advanced security clearance for Musk in response to the Journal’s June 2023 report about the billionaire entrepreneur’s use of ketamine.
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One of the outlet’s sources said the analysis found that it would raise the risk of Musk being denied the more advanced clearance or potentially losing his current top secret clearance.
It could also have required the company to increase security to insulate classified portions of its business from Musk, or to secure a waiver for continuing to perform national security work because of Musk’s role as the company’s CEO, the report said.
With his current top secret clearance, Musk lacks access to certain information about SpaceX’s work on a spy satellite program, called StarShield. He also is not permitted to enter company facilities where classified work is done, and in many cases, does not have knowledge about the classified cargo carried by SpaceX launches, according to the report.
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The process for applying for federal security clearances asks applicants if they have used certain drugs within the last seven years, and clearance holders may have their access revoked for drug abuse. It also requires the disclosure of communications with foreign nationals.
By contrast, CEOs of SpaceX rivals like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the two companies’ joint space venture, United Launch Alliance, have authorizations for sensitive compartmented information, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with their clearances.
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Musk obtained his top secret clearance in 2022 after he previously held a secret-level clearance, but the process of approving his top secret clearance took several years, which people familiar with his clearance believed was due to him smoking marijuana during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2018, due to the substance being illegal under federal law.
Musk’s work with the incoming Trump administration, which tasked him and Vivek Ramaswamy with leading the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), could give him the opportunity to access classified information if President-elect Donald Trump chooses to exercise authority that would allow him to do so.
The Journal reported that SpaceX is looking for locations to site a secure facility where Musk and DOGE workers would be able to safely review classified information in the course of their cost-cutting efforts.
FOX Business reached out to SpaceX for comment.
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