State Department Insider on Elon Musk Accessing Nuclear Weapons: “If You Make Something Idiot-Proof, the World Will Build a Better Idiot”

DOGE With a Bone

Elon Musk's government takeover is freaking tons of people out — especially as at least one of his DOGE lackeys has reportedly been given access to the same system as the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which safeguards the nation's atomic arsenal.

But you can breathe easy for now. In an interview with The Verge, a State Department official said that as of right now, there's little chance that one of Musk's flunkies could access America's nukes.

"I can’t see what [Musk] would possibly do," the unidentified State Department insider said of the billionaire unelected official and his wreckers at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

According to that State employee, the chances of Musk or DOGE accessing our nuclear weapons are "zero" because, as they explained, America's arsenal simply isn't connected to the internet. Instead, it runs on a closed network with the explicit purpose of nuclear governance in mind.

As The Verge notes, that closed nuclear network still uses equipment from the 1960s and 70s, making it more concerning that the decrepit system — which still used floppy disks until 2019 — would fail to function in a crisis than that it would be infiltrated by overzealous children.

"I can’t fathom how that would happen," the person said. "Famous last words."

Still, there's always a chance that the impossible — such as Donald Trump becoming president twice — can occur, as the State Department employee said in a particularly cryptic line.

"I also firmly believe that if you make something idiot-proof," the person said, "the world will build a better idiot."

Alex Wallerstein, a nuclear expert with the Stevens Institute of Technology, told The Verge that the best way for Musk to access the nuclear arsenal would be to pull a good old fashioned con.

"If Musk was trying to do a true 'hostile takeover' of that sort, it would be best accomplished by just fooling Trump into believing nuclear war was imminent," Wallerstein said, "which would probably be a trivial endeavor for someone of Musk’s wealth and Trump’s gullibility."

Short of that, there's very little chance that Musk will gain access to America's nukes.

"I don’t think the current command and control systems are 'hackable,'" Wallerstein continued. "They are frankly not modern enough for that."

Amid passive efforts within and outside the Pentagon to modernize America's strategic command of its arsenals — including, chillingly, with artificial intelligence — we should probably thank our lucky stars that progress moves at a snail's pace within government.

More on the DOGE dilemma: Elon Musk's Henchmen Feeding Sensitive Government Data Into AI