Summary

Elon Musk is unlikely to receive the highest-level government security clearance due to concerns over drug use, foreign contacts, and potential risks of disclosing classified information, according to Wall Street Journal reports.

Musk, who holds “top-secret” clearance, has faced scrutiny for past drug use, including marijuana and alleged ketamine use, and reported contacts with Vladimir Putin since 2022.

SpaceX lawyers advised against seeking higher clearance, fearing denial and revocation of existing clearances.

While Musk may bypass traditional clearance under Trump’s incoming administration, he currently lacks access to SpaceX’s most classified projects.

  • @Red_October
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    417 minutes ago

    It’s a good thing Trump has a history of rigorously protecting classified documents, right guys?

  • @boaratio
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    243 hours ago

    I had a friend, at my first job out of college, have his “sensitive” security clearance denied after a full year of background checks because during his polygraph he admitted to trying cocaine when he was in college. That’s the lowest level of security clearance, and yet musk somehow has a clearance near the top.

    • @bitjunkie
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      240 minutes ago

      Did your friend have hundreds of billions of dollars?

      • @ours
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        43 hours ago

        And the content of their address book.

    • @vikingr
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      129 seconds ago

      This happened to me almost 20 years ago. Answered truthfully about smoking weed. Instant denial.

  • Flying Squid
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    166 hours ago

    Is it unlikely or will he not get it?

    Anyway, whatever level of security clearance he gets, he’ll invariably blab out some secret on Twitter while making one of his “hilarious” jokes during a ketamine binge.

    • @[email protected]
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      331 minutes ago

      Trump already gave military secrets out on twitter during his last presidency

      It’s not as low of a bar as you think

    • @DreamlandLividity
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      4 hours ago

      If I am not mistaken, the President has a lot of authority over security clearances. So for the next 4 years, just like with many other things, it will depend on how a certain Orange feels that day.

  • @hark
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    7411 hours ago

    I hope he pisses off trump enough to get destroyed.

    • Chainweasel
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      1 hour ago

      It’s inevitable.
      They’re both extreme narcissists and only Trump has any legitimate power out of the two. Eventually musk will try too hard to control him and Trump will use everything in his power to destroy him which, thanks to the Supreme Court, is now unlimited.
      So I’d expect to see the IRS weaponized against Musk sometime in the next 12 months at the absolute latest.

  • @[email protected]
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    4811 hours ago

    Musk, who holds “top-secret” clearance, has faced scrutiny for past drug use, including marijuana and alleged ketamine use, and reported contacts with Vladimir Putin since 2022.

    That escalated quickly.

    • Flying Squid
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      106 hours ago

      I would bet his ketamine use predated the time he famously smoked weed on Rogan’s show.

      And he does not strike me as a regular consumer of cannabis.

    • @SarcasticMan
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      309 hours ago

      Marijuanas is a gateway drug. I smoked 3 marijuanas and 5 weeks later came out of my k hole and I was in the middle of multi-billion dollar business deal with Kim Jong Un. Never smoking marijuanas again.

        • @Jesus_666
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          96 hours ago

          Remember the classical progression: Marijuana, then ketamine, then Putin.

    • @Graphy
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      810 hours ago

      I quickly went from thinking “yeah i can’t blame him those sound like the usual reasons why no one wants to work for the feds” to “oh”

    • Flying Squid
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      106 hours ago

      Not that he should, but I would bet that’s less unusual than you would think. I imagine a lot of defence contractor CEOs are not given the clearance to access certain pieces of information that those working on the project have because some things need to be kept need-to-know.