Elon Musk's DOGE employees 'given access' to networks with nuclear secrets without any experience
The Department of Energy denies the claims
Two DOGE employee had access to highly classified secrets possibly detailing the whereabouts US' nuclear weapons, according to reports.
Luke Farritor, a former interim for SpaceX, had details of one of the governments most restricted files downloaded on his computer, alongside venture capitalist Adam Ramada, according to sources close to NPR.
It is understood that neither Farritor nor Ramada, who both worked for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have ever worked in a position where they would have had access to such classified information.
According to the anonymous sources, they saw the names of the two employees in the directory for the networks which reportedly contained highly guarded nuclear secrets on.
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However, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy (DOE), which operates sub-agency titled the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) - that oversees 'the research, development, test, and acquisition programs that produce, maintain, and sustain nuclear warheads', denied that the pair have ever had access.
A DOE spokesperson said in a statement to UNILAD: "This reporting is false. No DOGE personnel have accessed these NNSA systems. The two DOGE individuals in question worked within the agency for several days and departed DOE in February."
The DOE later emailed a second statement to NPR, claiming that while the accounts had, in fact, been created, the two DOGE employees that were granted access to them never opened them up.
"DOE is able to confirm that these accounts in question were never activated and have never been accessed," a spokesperson for the department said.
When CNN reported back in February about DOGE employees allegedly looking to access secret computer networks, Energy spokesperson Chris Wright told them (via CNBC): "I've heard these rumors, 'They're like seeing our nuclear secrets.' None of that is true at all; they don't have security clearances."
The data claimed to be on Farritor and Ramada's computers included two networks from the NNSA.
The first allegedly is used to share 'restricted data' about the designs of the nuclear weapons, as well as other things, while the second is referred to as the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), which the Department of Defense (DOE) use to communicate with DOE about the warheads.
NPR further claims that a 'Q' clearance is needed to access these networks, which often can be a long process, but can be sped up in special cases.
A former Department of Defense staffer explained to the publication that information within SIPRNet is classified at secret level and if it were ever to be leaked, it 'could potentially damage or harm national security if it were to get out'.
According to one of the publication's sources, the accounts that the pair would have simply been a 'toehold' into the network so that they could request classified information for DOE staff.
"They're getting a little further in, it's something to make note of," they claimed to NPR. "It could lead to something bigger."
UNILAD has contacted DOGE for comment.
Joe Yates