Pentagon to Brief Musk on Plans for Potential War With China: Report
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Elon Musk is set to be briefed Friday on plans for any war the U.S. might have with China, two U.S. officials told The New York Times.
A third U.S. official said the briefing will focus on China, but did not offer details.
President Donald Trump named Musk to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency,” an unofficial organization that has nonetheless wielded immense power across the federal bureaucracy. The group has terminated thousands of federal employees and frozen congressionally appropriated funds. Musk’s companies have billions of dollars in federal contracts, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. The White House has responded to those concerns by saying he will police his own conflicts.
The China briefing is particularly notable because Tesla Motors, where Musk is CEO, has an auto factory and a battery plant in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Musk’s companies also do business with the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Times reported:
The top-secret briefing for the China war plan has about 20 to 30 slides that lay out how the United States would fight such a conflict. It covers the plan beginning with the indications and warning of a threat from China to various options on what Chinese targets to hit, over what time period, that would be presented to Mr. Trump for decisions, according to officials with knowledge of the plan.
A White House spokesman did not respond to an email seeking comment about the purpose of the visit, how it came about, whether Mr. Trump was aware of it, and whether the visit raises questions of conflicts of interest. The White House has not said whether Mr. Trump signed a conflicts of interest waiver for Mr. Musk. A Defense Department spokesman did not respond to a similar email.
The publication noted that the Pentagon may be briefing Musk so that if DOGE makes cuts to the department, it would be able to do so “in a responsible way.”
In 2021, on the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Chinese Communist Party, Musk praised China’s “economic prosperity,” calling it “truly amazing.”
