Elon Musk paid a visit to NSA, Cyber Command amid DOGE-led overhauls
White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn with U.S. President Donald Trump on March 9, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Samuel Corum / Stringer/ Getty Images
Musk’s trip to the signals intelligence office and combatant command is the first recorded instance of him visiting an intelligence agency since President Trump assumed office.
Billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency superintendent Elon Musk paid a visit to the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command in Ft. Meade, Maryland, on Wednesday, an NSA spokesperson confirmed to Nextgov/FCW on Thursday.
The visit marks the first publicly known case where Musk visited a U.S. intelligence agency in his role under DOGE. The NSA is the government’s largely clandestine intelligence office focused on signals intelligence, cybersecurity and conducting surveillance and intelligence-gathering on foreign adversaries. Cyber Command is a combatant command tied to the Pentagon. Both are overseen in a dual-hatted role by Gen. Timothy Haugh.
“Yesterday, Gen Timothy Haugh, Commander, USCYBERCOM, Director, NSA/Chief, [Central Security Service], hosted Elon Musk during his first visit to NSA/CSS Washington in his capacity as Special Advisor to the President of the United States,” an NSA spokesperson said. “NSA and CYBERCOM are focused on the President, SECDEF and [the Director of National Intelligence]’s priorities; meetings with key advisors ensure we are aligned.”
A spokesperson for DOGE did not respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported the visit. Musk said in an X post last week that the NSA “needs an overhaul.”
Musk and his DOGE lackeys have been leading an effort to shrink the size of the federal government and reduce purported government spending waste. The NSA and several other intelligence community elements have become a part of this, with their workforce qualifying for a deferred resignation offer that would allow staff to remain on payroll with full benefits until the end of September.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently ordered Cyber Command to stand down on cyber and information operations planning against Russia, according to a U.S. official and a second person familiar with the directive.
The move appeared to be intended as a mechanism to appease Russia and draw it to the negotiating table in talks with Ukraine, according to the two. That order was first reported by The Record, the news unit of cyber threat intelligence firm Recorded Future.