Pentagon Set Up Briefing for Musk on Potential Warfare With China

The Pentagon was scheduled on Friday to temporary Elon Musk on the U.S. army’s plan for any struggle that may get away with China, two U.S. officers mentioned on Thursday.

One other official mentioned the briefing can be China targeted, with out offering further particulars. A fourth official confirmed Mr. Musk was to be on the Pentagon on Friday, however provided no particulars.

Hours after information of the deliberate assembly was revealed by The New York Occasions, Pentagon officers and President Trump denied that the session can be about army plans involving China. “China is not going to even be talked about or mentioned,” Mr. Trump mentioned in a late-night social media submit.

It was not clear if the briefing for Mr. Musk would go forward as initially deliberate. However offering Mr. Musk entry to a number of the nation’s most intently guarded army secrets and techniques can be a dramatic enlargement of his already intensive function as an adviser to Mr. Trump and chief of his effort to slash spending and purge the federal government of individuals and insurance policies they oppose.

It might additionally convey into sharp aid the questions on Mr. Musk’s conflicts of curiosity as he ranges extensively throughout the federal forms whereas persevering with to run companies which can be main authorities contractors. On this case, Mr. Musk, the billionaire chief government of each SpaceX and Tesla, is a number one provider to the Pentagon and has intensive monetary pursuits in China.

Pentagon struggle plans, recognized in army jargon as O-plans or operational plans, are among the many army’s most intently guarded secrets and techniques. If a overseas nation had been to learn the way america deliberate to combat a struggle towards them, it might reinforce its defenses and tackle its weaknesses, making the plans far much less prone to succeed.