The head of NASA has called for an investigation into the allegations that Elon Musk has been in regular communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has developed deep business ties with the U.S. military and intelligence agencies over the last several years while seemingly maintaining a simultaneous relationship with one of America’s biggest adversarial leaders, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called for an investigation on Friday at Semafor’s World Economy Summit into the allegations that Musk and Putin have been in “regular contact since late 2022.”
“I don’t know that that story is true. I think it should be investigated,” Nelson said on Friday, adding that “if the story is true there have been multiple conversations with Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, [and] for some intelligence agencies.”
The news of their communications raises national security questions, given Musk’s ties to the government of the United States. Last year, his companies had almost 100 contracts with 17 federal agencies, according to the New York Times. Earlier this year, NASA announced it had selected SpaceX to develop a space vehicle that will bring the International Space Station out of orbit in 2030 after the operational life of the ISS ends. The contract has an approximate value of more than $800 million.
SpaceX previously won a $1.8 billion classified contract in 2021, and Musk has a security clearance that allows him access to certain classified information.
At the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Musk donated hundreds of Starlink terminals to Ukraine, allowing internet access to broad swaths of the country facing devastating Russian attacks. But Musk’s perception of the conflict appeared to change over time. SpaceX, Musk’s company that oversees the terminals, put restrictions on Ukraine’s use of them in offensive operations.
Putin, at one point, asked Musk not to activate Starlink’s services over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the WSJ reported.
“We do not comment on any individual’s security clearance, review or status, or about personnel security policy matters in the context of reports about any individual’s actions,” a Pentagon spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Musk, over the last several weeks, has begun campaigning for former President Donald Trump, who has also reportedly spoken with Putin multiple times since leaving office. Musk’s super PAC received a warning from the Department of Justice that the $1 million giveaway he is offering in battleground states ahead of the 2024 election could be illegal. It’s against federal law to pay someone to vote or to register to vote.
Veteran journalist Bob Woodward reported in his new book that Trump and Putin had spoken, while the former president declined to comment on the claim.
“If I did [talk to Putin], it’s a smart thing,” Trump said earlier this month. “If I’m friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”
Trump has also floated the idea of offering Musk a government position should he win the election.
The Biden administration has continued to rush military aid to Ukraine as the election nears. Trump and his campaign have indicated that they could lessen U.S. military support for Ukraine should he win next month’s presidential election, while Vice President Kamala Harris has said she would continue to support Ukraine’s efforts.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the only communication the Kremlin has had with Musk was over one call in which they discussed “space as well as current and future technologies.”
The U.S. and Russia are competing in the space domain as well as in Ukraine, while NASA works closely with SpaceX.
Back in May, a Pentagon official told lawmakers that Russia was pursuing a new satellite that could carry a nuclear device and pose a threat to all other satellites.
“Russia is also developing a concerning anti-satellite capability related to a new satellite carrying a nuclear device that Russia is developing,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said in his written testimony to lawmakers. “This capability could pose a threat to all satellites operated by countries and companies around the globe, as well as to the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend upon.”
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National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at that time that the U.S. had been aware of Russia’s pursuit of this capability for “many, many months, if not a few years,” and he noted the intelligence community has gained a “higher sense of confidence exactly how Russia continues to pursue” this capability in “recent weeks.”
Musk also owns X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, which like many social media platforms, has had trouble controlling the spread of misinformation and disinformation — some of which is created and promoted by Russians to push their own agenda.