The Internet System Elon Musk Installed at the White House Is Causing Concerns
Elon Musk's lackeys at his so-called Department of Government Efficiency installed a Starlink terminal on the roof of the White House — and then totally blew off the major security concerns raised by communications experts, the Washington Post reports.
This is the latest example of the security risks arising from DOGE's sweeping access to federal systems, alongside the high-profile blunders made by key figures in Trump's cabinet.
According to insiders, it sounds like the White House communications experts were totally circumvented by Musk's group: they were given no notice that DOGE was installing the Starlink terminal — and once the satellite-based internet service was online, they had no way of actually monitoring the connections. When they voiced these concerns, the communications experts were ignored.
At one point, things got heated. The installation of the Starlink roof terminal caused a confrontation between DOGE staffers and the Secret Service, according to WaPo.
There was a lot for them to complain about. According to WaPo sources, a "Starlink Guest" WiFi network that first appeared in February is still active. It asks only for a password, with no username requirement or other form of authentication.
This is not — or at least, shouldn't be — standard practice. Personal phones on a guest network at the White House typically need a username and a password, which are tracked and expire after a week, per WaPo. Starlink's network, by contrast, sounds more like the free Wi-Fi at Starbucks.
"Starlink doesn't require anything. It allows you to transmit data without any kind of record or tracking," an insider told WaPo. "White House IT systems had very strong controls on network access. You had to be on a full-tunnel VPN at all times. If you are not on the VPN, White House-issued devices can't connect to the outside."
"With a Starlink connection, that means White House devices could leave the network and go out through gateways. … It's going to help you bypass security," another insider told WaPo.
Starlink is generally considered more secure than traditional telecommunication networks in the US, according to the reporting. But they're not impenetrable, and security experts aren't relishing the fact that they're being kept in the dark about what data is being transmitted in and out of the White House via the satellite network.
It's unclear if the rooftop terminal remains installed, or if anything will change now that Musk has stepped back from his role as a "special government employee." That's a substantial loose end, because Musk has recently demonstrated a legendary petty streak that saw him lash out at Donald Trump and seemingly burn all bridges with the administration.
If Musk is willing to threaten to cut off the US government's space access using his company's spacecraft, what else would he be willing to do? We've seen Musk personally intervene in Starlink's operations in the past for political reasons. When the Ukrainian military launched an ambush on the Russian naval fleet stationed near the Crimean coast, the billionaire ordered his engineers to shut down Starlink in the region to disrupt the attack.
Starlink did not respond to WaPo's request for comment. The Secret Service said it could not discuss specific technology systems for security reasons.
"We were aware of DOGE's intentions to improve internet access on the campus and did not consider this matter a security incident or security breach," Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told WaPo.
More on Elon Musk: Trump Confronted Musk in Private Before Their Blowout Public Fight

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's DOGE efficiency agency says it slashes $25B in federal spending as rehiring begins
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on Wednesday it has decreased its annual non-defense federal obligations by an additional ~1.9% since last month. As of June 8th, annual non-defense federal obligations are down 22.4%, or ~$25B, as compared to 2024, DOGE announced on X. The cut marks an additional ~1.9% reduction from last month's figures, which were announced on May 8. Doge's Greatest Hits: Look Back At The Department's Most High-profile Cuts During Trump's First 100 Days "Cash outlays will follow as obligations come due," DOGE wrote in the post. "Our initiative to reduce wasteful spend, consistent with the DOGE Cost Efficiency Executive Order, continues to bear fruit." On May 14, DOGE announced the current year's non-defense federal obligations were down 20.5% as compared to 2024. Read On The Fox News App The announcement came minutes before Fox News Digital was first to report the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is rehiring more than 450 previously fired employees belonging to multiple divisions within the agency's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The rehired CDC employees came from the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; the National Center for Environmental Health; the Immediate Office of the Director, and the Global Health Center, according to an HHS official familiar with the matter. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News in April some personnel who were cut shouldn't have been. Doge Ends 108 'Wasteful' Contracts, Including For An 'Executive Transformational Leadership Training Program' "We're reinstating them, and that was always the plan," Kennedy said. "Part of the—at DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we're going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we'll make mistakes." In addition to the HHS rehires, the Internal Revenue Service, Food and Drug Administration, State Department, and Department of Housing and Urban Development started rehiring employees let go during DOGE cuts, the Washington Post reported. Doge Takes A Chainsaw To Federal Spending With 7 Major Victories This Week: 'Got To Be Done' Another roadblock this week was a ruling from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York, who ruled to restrict the agency's access to federal databases. The Trump administration previously said DOGE could not work effectively with the limitations, noting DOGE needed to access Social Security information to root out fraud. Fox News Digital's Alec Schemmel and Danielle Wallace contributed to this article source: Trump's DOGE efficiency agency says it slashes $25B in federal spending as rehiring begins
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk Says He Regrets Posts Against Trump
Elon Musk Says He Regrets Posts Against Trump originally appeared on L.A. Mag. Elon Musk is attempting to end his clash with President Donald Trump, after he said in an X post on Wednesday that his comments went 'too far.'Early Wednesday morning, Musk wrote, '"I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far."Musk refers to an earlier post, now deleted, where he alleged that Trump was associated with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump and Musk have been feuding over a proposed budget reconciling legislation that Trump called the 'big beautiful bill.' Musk said before he left the White House that he was "disappointed" by the bill because it would increase the deficit. On X, Musk continued to criticize Trump, saying his tariffs "will cause a recession in the second half of this year" and accusing him of lying. He also said it was "very unfair" that the legislation would eliminate tax incentives for electric Associated Press reported that Trump responded to try to maintain support for the bill. "I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago," Trump posted. "This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress."Trump on Sunday told NBC's Kristen Welker that he does not want to fix his relationship with Musk, warning that he could face "serious consequences" if he attempts to help Democrats in upcoming elections. This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Bessent says report he called Musk ‘a fraud' is ‘fake news'
Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent addressed his reported clashes with Elon Musk during a congressional hearing on Wednesday, rejecting claims that he called Musk a 'fraud' as 'fake news.' After Musk's explosive fallout with President Trump last week, longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon told The Washington Post that the tech billionaire and Bessent had a physical altercation, which the White House denied, and that Bessent called Musk 'a total fraud' in a heated exchange about the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) efforts to cut government spending. Bannon led the conservative outlet Breitbart News for several years until his ouster from the site in 2018, following a brief stint in Trump's first administration. 'I know Elon Musk body checked you at the White House,' Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) said to Bessent during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the Treasury Department. 'You know that?' Bessent shot back. 'You believe what you read on Breitbart, that's what you are telling this Congress.' Coincidentally, Bessent recently quoted a Breitbart article on the social platform X in response to mass protests in Los Angeles against Trump's immigration crackdown. Gomez continued in the hearing, 'If it's too sensitive for you, I won't ask that question,' prompting a retort from the South Carolina native with an apparent strike at South African-born Musk. 'I'll take South Carolina over South Africa any day,' Bessent said. Trump confirmed that Musk and Bessent had 'a little bit of a shouting match' but denied it turned violent. 'They did have an argument, but I didn't see a lot of physicality there,' the president told reporters at the White House on Monday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.