The alarm over Elon Musk and national security has yet to sink in

Donald Trump’s re-election has stunned Democrats and left the global public struggling to understand its implications.

One of the most curious areas to ponder is the effect Trump campaign-backer and billionaire Elon Musk will have on shaping the president-elect’s agenda. The tech mogul spent more than $US130 million ($195 million) helping Trump to retake the White House.

Elon Musk may help Donald Trump choose which government employees to fire.Credit: AP

Trump, in his first conversation since re-election with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, included Musk on the phone call, Axios reported, though details of the conversation are unknown.

And while the conversation did not reportedly raise the Ukrainian’s anxiety about US support in a second Trump term, the power Musk has come to hold in Western security decisions bears watching.

Musk, the owner of electric carmaker Tesla and reusable rocket company SpaceX, has made billions of dollars in his pursuit of game-changing technology. He is also erratic, unpredictable and often defiant of convention.

In 2022, for example, in a kind of “F-around-and-find-out” moment, Musk’s criticism of Twitter morphed into a $US43 billion acquisition of the influential social media platform.

As its owner, the renamed X became his own personal megaphone, with the platform acting as “an outlet not just for his ideas but for his emotions”, writes The New York Times.

Musk converted it into the premier platform for frequently polarising content, including the views of extremists. Efforts to block extremist disinformation on X faltered under his leadership. Musk even told unhappy advertisers on the platform they could “go f--- themselves”.

Musk’s fanciful election claims on X (illegal immigrants voting, and fake pictures of Kamala Harris) were viewed an estimated 2 billion times.

For his support, Trump has promised Musk a role as future leader of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (initials: “DOGE”, one of Musk’s favourite memes), which will eliminate thousands of jobs in government.

If you follow Musk on X, you can see his posts reflect his adolescent sense of humour and a need to insert himself into the viral story of the day – such as replying to Taylor Swift’s Harris endorsement.

Wealth and cheesy memes aside, Musk’s personality raises the question of his vulnerability to malign influence from foreign leaders, especially in a second term Trump White House likely to be defined by deal-making.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the man working to weaken Western democracy, routinely speaks to Musk.

Maybe that explains why Musk has amplified the Kremlin’s talking points on Ukraine, or advocates for Moscow’s “peace deal” with Kyiv.

Fiona Hill, a former White House Russia expert, told Politico in 2022: “It’s very clear that Elon Musk is transmitting a message for Putin.”

Last year, Musk ordered that the Starlink satellite network be shut off to prevent a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian fleet. Putin reportedly even asked Musk to turn off Starlink for Taiwan, as a favour to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

At present, US government agencies forewarn the public about Russian, Chinese and Iranian disinformation. Much, but not all, is at a “retail” level, signalling false narratives on social media.

Musk’s power and influence is so vast, as he creates new realities (the information space of X, reusable rockets), that the prospect of Musk coming under the sway of Putin represents malign influence on the West at a wholesale level.

When Musk is put in charge of axing government jobs, which departments would he shut? People fear he’ll go after agencies that regulate X, Tesla and SpaceX.

But what if, after a conversation with Putin, Musk saw the need to eliminate parts of the intelligence agencies? Or the part of the Justice Department that defends against foreign interference?

It’s not just who Musk speaks to, but who surrounds Musk. In 2022, he briefly hired a Russian-born poker player to advise him on charitable giving for his foundation after bonding with him over the Burning Man festival.

The billionaire’s relentless quest for attention is not too different from Trump’s craving for laughs.

In an international crisis, with Musk at the helm of such powerful technologies and working with government, would he do the right thing for US national security?

Would he do what’s best for his business interests or best for a foreign leader he wanted to impress? Given Musk’s power, wealth and temperament, it’s a new risk to worry about.

As a favourite Musk meme says: “Let that sink in.”

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