Elon Musk paid an unannounced visit to the National Security Agency on Wednesday and met with its chief, an NSA spokesperson said, days after he called for revamping the country’s top cyberespionage service.
It was Musk’s first publicly confirmed visit to an intelligence agency since he launched the Trump administration’s effort to drastically cut the federal workforce.
The NSA is one of the country’s most valuable tools for collecting intelligence, according to experts, overseeing a vast eavesdropping operation, as well as sophisticated cybersecurity capabilities.
Musk, the billionaire businessman who has come under criticism for his aggressive tactics and secrecy, posted on his social media platform, X, last week, “The NSA needs an overhaul.” Musk’s post and his visit suggested the long secretive agency, known as the “puzzle palace” for its codebreaking abilities, may be next.
During his visit to the NSA’s headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland, Musk held talks with Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, who oversees the agency, as well as the military’s Cyber Command, the spokesperson said. Musk was also given a tour of the NSA’s Remote Operations Center, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
Asked about the focus of the meetings, the NSA spokesperson said in an email that the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command are focused on priorities outlined by the president, the defense secretary and the director of national intelligence and that “meetings with key advisors ensure we are aligned.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported Musk’s visit.
Looming layoffs
Some former intelligence officials and Democrats in Congress have warned against rushing to fire employees without careful planning to avoid losing talented officers and damaging national security. For decades, the federal government has struggled to compete with the private sector when it comes to hiring talented tech workers.
The Defense Department oversees the budgets of parts of the intelligence community, and, as a result, some spy agencies are under instructions to meet a goal set by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reduce the civilian workforce by 5% to 8%, the source said.
“As part of the defense secretary’s direction to streamline operations, bolster readiness and prioritize critical missions, the Department of Defense will continue efforts to eliminate positions that are non-mission critical and reduce the civilian workforce by 5 to 8 percent over the coming months,” according to a Pentagon memo signed by the acting deputy assistant defense secretary for civilian personnel policy, which was obtained by NBC News.
The Defense Department memo encourages managers to use early retirement or other buyout options to meet the goal by June.
To try to meet the administration’s orders to reduce its workforce, the NSA is looking at offering employees early retirement and/or other buyout options, the source said.
Other intelligence agencies are also grappling with how to reduce their numbers of employees without damaging their missions. The CIA has started to fire some employees who were hired in the past two years, NBC News has reported.
The head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Navy Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth, acknowledged this week that there is some concern among employees about plans to cut the workforce across the federal government.
“There is nothing like mission to help people stay focused no matter what else is going on,” SpaceNews quoted Whitworth as saying at an event Monday in Washington. “That said, they’re humans, they have stresses.”
