On Friday morning, Elon Musk was at the Pentagon. His visit sent the transportation world into a frenzy of speculation about what the purpose of such a meeting could be. Speculative alarm spread through the think tank and congressional communities and beyond that the meeting was to discuss detailed, classified plans for U.S. military action in a possible future conflict with China. Both Elon Musk and the Trump administration vigorously contested these stories. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made clear on the visit that the purpose was to increase government efficiency. He stated that it was not about “top secret China war plans."
To put that in perspective, Musk, who has a “top-secret” clearance inside the federal government himself, was only at the Pentagon for about 90 minutes. According to accounts, his conversations mainly zeroed in on figuring out how to raise the game or use cutting-edge practices.
"It's an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies [and] smarter production," said Pete Hegseth.
Speculation intensified when The New York Times reported that Musk was to be briefed on a detailed plan consisting of 20 to 30 slides, outlining how the U.S. military would engage in a potential conflict with China. And indeed, just two hours after our report was published, The Wall Street Journal confirmed our report, quoting two unnamed U.S. officials. Follow-up reporting by The Washington Post and other media organizations only stoked the public interest even more.
According to these reports, Musk fired back by calling such leaks “pure propaganda” and claiming that he would track down the leakers. Lawyers at SpaceX cautioned Musk against pursuing greater levels of security clearances. They were worried about his foreign connections and personal behavior, including drug use.
Musk, we should remember, has major economic interests in China as the owner of both Tesla and SpaceX. These same firms currently have U.S. Air Force contracts, raising serious issues of conflict of interest. If Musk were to have any role in determining U.S. military strategy with respect to China, that would certainly raise serious national security issues.
Later that day, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to opine on the state of affairs. He claimed that China-related conversations weren’t on the agenda, either.
"China will not even be mentioned or discussed," stated Donald Trump.