Elon Musk visits CIA: Axios uncovers details of meeting
Photo: Elon Musk (Getty Images)
On Monday, billionaire and DOGE chief Elon Musk visited CIA headquarters for negotiations on government efficiency, the news website Axios reports, citing CIA's Director of Public Affairs Liz Lyons.
This was Musk’s first visit to the CIA since the establishment of DOGE - the Department of Government Efficiency, or as it is also called, the Cost-Cutting Department, which the billionaire represents.
A source revealed that, unlike other government agencies, DOGE will not have access to the CIA's databases or internal systems, as most of them are top secret
In a comment to Axios, Lyons said that Musk was hosted by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Deputy Director Michael Ellis. A group of CIA career employees was also present at the meeting.
According to Axios, during the visit, Musk briefed Ratcliffe and other CIA officials on key findings from DOGE's work in other departments and agencies, as well as on "the ways in which those lessons could be thoughtfully applied at CIA."
A source familiar with the meeting reported that the CIA has an internal DOGE team, which was formed following an executive order from US President Donald Trump. It consists of CIA career employees and has been operating for several weeks.
Axios learned that CIA employees did not conduct an intelligence briefing for Musk. However, they discussed with him "how the CIA is unique" to other government agencies.
In particular, Ratcliffe and his team discussed with Musk how the CIA could adopt measures implemented by other government agencies to improve its efficiency without compromising national security.
The source said another issue that was discussed in the meeting was technology.
"Director Ratcliffe emphasized during the meeting the importance of respecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring that they are spent wisely and appropriately - on CIA's mission of defending the United States of America," Lyons said.
Musk to join Trump's team?
On Monday, Donald Trump stated that the DOGE department, led by Elon Musk, will "at some point" cease to exist.
The US President explained that the billionaire is available to him as a special government employee only for 130 days. Trump also added that at some point, Musk will return to his company because it needs to be managed, and he will want to do so.
"He's got a big company to run, and so at some point, he's going to be going back. I'd keep him as long as I can keep him. He's a very talented guy, you know, I love very smart people, and he's very smart, and he's done a good job," Trump said about the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
