As writes The New York Times citing two American officials, on Friday the Pentagon plans to hold a briefing with Elon Musk on strategy and plans in case of war with China. The briefing contains about 20-30 slides detailing how the United States would conduct such a conflict. Meanwhile, Musk is not part of the military command system and is not an official advisor to Trump on military issues related to China.
Pentagon officials and President Trump denied information that military plans involving China would be discussed at the meeting. “China will not even be mentioned or discussed,” Trump stated on social media.
“This is not a meeting about ‘top-secret Chinese military plans.’ It is an informal meeting about innovation, efficiency, and smarter production,” wrote Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. About 30 minutes after this social media post, The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Musk was planned to be briefed on military plans regarding China.
According to the publication's sources, the meeting was supposed to take place not in Hegseth's office, but in a secure Pentagon conference room, which is usually used for high-level meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, their senior staff, and arriving military commanders.
Participation in a secret briefing on the Chinese threat with the most senior representatives of the Pentagon and the US armed forces would be an extremely valuable opportunity for any defense contractor seeking to sell services to the military. “Providing the CEO of one defense company with unique access seems like it could be grounds for a contract protest and represents a real conflict of interest,” believes Todd Harrison, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute dealing with defense strategy issues.
Moreover, Musk and his electric vehicle manufacturing company Tesla are heavily dependent on China, where one of the automaker's flagship factories is located in Shanghai.
As noted by NYT, Musk became the subject of an investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general regarding compliance with top-secret clearance requirements. Investigations began last year after some SpaceX employees complained to government agencies that Musk did not properly report contacts or conversations with foreign leaders. Air Force officials began their own review before the end of Biden's administration due to suspicions that Musk was not complying with clearance requirements.
Photo: The New York Times