--- title: "Pentagon Uneasy About Elon Musk’s New Spy Satellites" description: "Elon Musk's SpaceX just launched a bunch of spy satellites for the Pentagon — and some in the DOD are getting worried." date: "2024-10-30" modified: "2024-10-30" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/pentagon-elon-musk-spy-satellites" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Off-World" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "starlink" - "the digest" - "the pentagon" --- # Pentagon Uneasy About Elon Musk’s New Spy Satellites ![Elon Musk's SpaceX just launched a bunch of spy satellites for the Pentagon — and some in the DOD are getting worried.]() *\Image: Samuel Corum via Getty\* ## Tinker Tailor SpaceX just launched some reportedly "[next-gen]()" spy satellites on behalf of the US government — and it sounds like certain officials at the Pentagon are anxious about it. In [interviews with the *New York Times*](), Pentagon officials and consultants who work with the space industry say that there are those within the Department of Defense concerned about the secretive spy crafts, especially in the wake of revelations that Elon Musk has been [having cozy phone chats with Vladimir Putin](). Last week, the [*Wall Street Journal* revealed]() that these Musk-Putin tête-à-têtes have been going on "regularly" since all the way back in 2022. During one such call, Putin asked the multi-hyphenate CEO not to provide Starlink satellite internet to Taiwan as a "favor" to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Given that Taiwan does indeed lack Starlink coverage, it would appear that Musk acquiesced. NASA Administrator [Bill Nelson has publicly voiced concern]() about the alleged exchanges, and he's not the only one: officials at the DoD have apparently been worried privately that, as critics have long pointed out, the US government may have erred by putting [all its eggs]() in Musk's increasingly conspiratorial and far-right basket. ## Monopoly Money Three Pentagon officials interviewed by the *NYT* anonymously so they could speak freely said that if nothing else, there's growing apprehension about the appearance of a SpaceX monopoly if both NASA and the DoD are using it near-exclusively for space contracts. Indeed, in a [report issued earlier this year](), the Pentagon's Defense Science Board warned that the "emergence of vendor lock, or dependence upon a sole vendor, has the potential to negate the strengths of the market by stifling innovation and inflating prices." "This can culminate in a de facto monopoly," the report continued, "cementing a stagnant and wasteful anticompetitive paradigm." Mandy Vaughn, a member of that DOD board and the CEO of the space consultancy GXO, took the criticism a step further. "There isn’t a launch or a spacecraft competition that SpaceX can’t walk into and completely warp and run the table," Vaughn explained to the *NYT*. "That’s a problem." At the end of the day, it's a massive issue that the person who controls so much of the US government's space contracts has been chatting on the regular with one of our country's biggest rivals — and now, he's in charge of [sending out new spy satellites](). **More on Musk problems:** [*Philadelphia DA Sues Elon Musk for Paying Voters*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()