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Two members of the Trump administration’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) have been granted unusual access to classified networks that house U.S. government information regarding nuclear weapons.
Sources speaking to NPR say that former SpaceX intern Luke Farritor and venture capitalist Adam Ramada, both members of Elon Musk’s DOGE program, have accounts on two networks relating to the government’s nuclear secrets.
The sources note that Farritor and Ramada’s names are included on a list of people who have had accounts created for them in order to access that information. This in itself is not proof that they’ve directly seen nuclear secrets, a point that spokespersons for the government have stated in order to discredit the report. But it is the first step toward accessing such information, which can only be viewed in a secure room.
“They’re getting a little further in, it’s something to make note of. It could lead to something bigger,” one source familiar with the matter told NPR.
Farritor and Ramada are listed as account holders allowed access to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Enterprise Secure Network (ESN), which is “responsible for transmitting restricted data about America’s nuclear weapons designs and the special nuclear materials used.” Through ESN, information is sent from nuclear labs to production facilities “that store, maintain, and upgrade the country’s nuclear arsenal,” The Daily Beast reported.
The DOGE duo has also been granted access to the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, which the Department of Defense (DOD) uses to discuss nuclear weapons with the Department of Energy (DOE).
Access to those networks requires a “Q” level government clearance status, the highest level of security clearance that exists at the DOE. Typically, obtaining that status is a lengthy process, but it can be expedited in certain circumstances.
Neither Farritor nor Ramada has any experience, prior to working for DOGE, with handling classified information, let alone information relating to nuclear weapons.
A DOE spokesperson initially denied that Farritor and Ramada have access to the secured networks. That person later amended their statement to NPR, saying that accounts had been created for the two DOGE employees but had not been used.
A former career DOD civil servant told the publication that if the information were somehow leaked (either purposely or by mistake), it could have devastating consequences, “potentially damag[ing] or harm[ing] national security.”
The new reports detailing the DOGE workers’ access to the country’s nuclear secrets comes as recent polling shows that most voters are skeptical that the “department” is carrying out its purported function of cutting waste and rooting out fraud.
According to a new Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll, while 43 percent of Americans believe that waste has decreased due to DOGE and the Trump administration, a majority of voters, 56 percent, hold the opposite viewpoint, with 31 percent saying that waste has stayed the same and 25 percent saying it has actually increased since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The same holds true for voters’ views on fraud — only 32 percent think that the administration has decreased fraud in the government, while 34 percent say the levels of fraud have remained the same. Another 34 percent say fraud has increased, for a combined total of 68 percent of respondents saying that fraud has not decreased as promised.
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