A BRIEFING was reportedly set up for Elon Musk on a possible war between China and the US.
The tech billionaire and close adviser to president Donald Trump was due to attend the Pentagon to learn about the country’s preparations for a potential war between the two superpowers, according to the New York Times.
The story has been denied by Trump and other top American officials, however the paper said it had spoken with a number of sources who confirmed a meeting had been arranged.
If Musk were to be given a briefing on preparations for a potential war, it would give him access to some of America’s most closely-guarded secrets, emphasising his expansive role as Trump’s top adviser.
The briefing that exists for China war plans has between 20 to 30 slides laying out plans from how the first signs of an imminent threat would be identified, to which targets in the country should be attacked.
There are concerns about Musk’s potential conflicts of interests in being briefed on the plans, given that he has significant business interests in China.
Though he has no position in the military chain of command, his role as the head of the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge), which has been making swingeing cuts across the federal government, could mean he has a need to know about the plans, the New York Times reported.
Musk could want to take an axe to Pentagon spending, the paper said, but would need to be kept in the loop with regards to how the US military plans to fight a potential war – so as to avoid cutting things which may be key parts of a future strategy.
His electric car company Tesla is heavily reliant on China, which houses one of its flagship factories in Shanghai. Company filings last year showed that it had a $2.8 billion loan agreement with Chinese lenders.
Elsewhere, parts of Musk’s business empire put him at odds with China, which considers his Starlink satellite programme so closely enmeshed with American security infrastructure that it is effectively an extension of the US military.
The briefing could also give Musk insight into new tools that the Pentagon might need and that SpaceX, where he remains the chief executive, could sell, the paper reported.
SpaceX is also expected to gain significantly from Trump’s plans to create a Golden Dome security system to protect America from bombings.
Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that Musk’s presence at a China war plan briefing raised concerns, telling the New York Times: “Giving the CEO of one defence company unique access seems like this could be grounds for a contract protest and is a real conflict of interest.”
Trump denied any briefing took place. In a social media post, he said: “China will not even be mentioned or discussed.”
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that Musk had been invited to the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US department of defence, too discuss other matters. In a Twitter/X post, he said: “This is NOT a meeting about ‘top secret China war plans.’ It’s an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies and smarter production. Gonna be great!”
