Elon Musk made an unnoticed visit to the National Security Agency on Wednesday and met with his boss, a NSA spokesman said, days after he asked to renew the best cyber -lecture center in the country.
It was the first Musk visit publicly confirmed to an intelligence agency since it launched the effort of the Trump administration to drastically reduce the federal workforce.
The NSA is one of the most valuable tools in the country to collect intelligence, according to experts, which supervises a large spy operation, as well as sophisticated cybersecurity capabilities.
Musk, the billionaire businessman who has been criticized for his aggressive tactics and his radical secret, published on his social networks platform, X, last week, “the NSA needs a review.” Musk’s publication and his visit suggested that the long secret agency, known as the “Puzzle Palace” for its famous code broken skills, can be next.
During his visit to the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, Musk held conversations with the general of the Timothy Haugh Air Force, who supervises the agency, as well as the army cyber command, said the spokesman. Musk also received a tour of the NSA remote operations center, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
When asked about the focus of the meetings, the NSA spokesman said in an email that the NSA and the US cyber command. UU. They focus on the priorities described by the President, the Secretary of Defense and the director of National Intelligence and that “the meetings with key advisors ensure that we are aligned.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported Musk’s visit.
Disadvantages
Some former intelligence officials and Democrats in Congress have warned against hurrying to fire employees without planning careful to lose talented officers and damaging national security. For decades, the federal government has fought to compete with the private sector when it comes to hiring talented technological workers.
The Defense Department supervises the budgets of parties to the intelligence community and, as a result, some espionage agencies are under instructions to meet an objective established by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reduce civil workforce by 5% to 8%, said the source.
“As part of the Directorate of the Secretary of Defense to optimize operations, strengthen the preparation and prioritize critical missions, the Department of Defense will continue efforts to eliminate positions that are not critical and reduce workforce in 5 to 8 percent in the coming months,” according to a memorandum of the pentagon signed by the attachment of deputy defense of civil policy for the policy of the civilian person, which was obtained by NBC News.
The Defense Department’s memorandum encourages managers to use early retirement or other purchase options to meet the objective in June.
To try to comply with the orders of the administration to reduce its workforce, the NSA is looking to offer employees in advance and/or other purchase options, said the source.
Other intelligence agencies are also dealing with how to reduce their number of employees without damaging their missions. The CIA has begun to fire some employees who were hired in the last two years, NBC News reported.
The head of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the Vicemenal of the Navy Frank Whitworth, acknowledged this week that there is a certain concern among employees about plans to reduce workforce throughout the federal government.
“There is nothing like the mission to help people stay focused regardless of what else is happening,” said Spacenews cited Whitworth at an event on Monday in Washington. “That said, they are human, they have tensions.”
