Mr. Musk’s relationship with China’s leaders could prove a problem for America’s national security given that SpaceX has a near monopoly on the United States’ rocket launches. The United States is in an intense space race with China. In a May interview, Maj. Gen. Gregory J. Gagnon, the deputy chief of space operations for intelligence at the U.S. Space Force, said that there has never been a buildup comparable to what the Chinese are attempting in space — not even during World War II — and that “an adversary arming this fast is profoundly concerning.” The last thing the United States needs is for China to potentially have an easier way of obtaining classified intelligence and national security information.

Mr. Musk already has a history of pleasing the Chinese Communist Party. He heaped praise on Mr. Xi to commemorate the party’s 100th anniversary. In 2022, earning thanks from Chinese officials, he went to bat for the party by arguing that Taiwan should become a special administrative region of China.

In May 2023, Mr. Musk also reportedly told Qin Gang, then the Chinese foreign minister, that Tesla opposed the United States decoupling from China, stating that U.S. and Chinese interests are “intertwined like conjoined twins.”

Although claiming to be a free-speech advocate, Mr. Musk was the first foreigner to contribute an article to China Cyberspace, a magazine that is run by the Communist regime’s internet censorship agency.

#BREAKING: Legendary #Maddow: "...but it's all the more unsettling given reporting in recent days, about the ways in which our own government has found #ElonMusk to be a potential national security risk. WSJ for example, reported that while there are several hundred employees at SpaceX--Musk's company--who have security clearances for what's known as 'sensitive compartmented information', Musk is NOT one of the people who has that level of clearance, and that's not normal..."😳