Two workers from Elon Musk in Doge agreed to a private network. The US keeps the secrets of your nuclear arsenal there

In February, one of the most rocambolesque stories was known around Doge, the Government Efficiency Department led by Elon Musk to essence, cut where he can in the administration of the United States Government. Apparently, they fired 350 officials who had to Readmit rapidly. The reason: they were the specialists in the assembly of nuclear eyelets. The story has now taken a more dangerous turn. The access they should never have. I told it a few hours ago exclusively NPR through confidential information access. Apparently, it was revealed that two young employees of that government efficiency department (Doge) created under the orders of Elon Musk, obtained accounts in classified networks With nuclear information highly sensitive. What’s doubt, the news has unleashed a political storm and national security in the United States. Luke Farritor, a former 23 -year -old Spacex fellow, and Adam Ramada, a Angel Investor Without previous experience in armament or intelligence, they appeared for at least two weeks in the directories of the reserved systems of the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) and the Department of Defense, according to sources with direct access to the networks. From denial to confirmation. The media counted that, although the energy department first denied any link, later admitted that the accounts Yes they were createdalthough they insisted that never They were activated nor used. So, the medium NPR remembers that the mere existence of these accounts, in maximum security environments that normally require a “Q” accreditation (The highest level of authorization of the DOE), has aroused alarm among experts, who interpret it as a sign of the growing and worrying doge penetration in critical areas of the state apparatus. All nuclear information. To understand the importance of the network to which they have had access, let’s think that the systems accessed by these employees are not mere confidential data repositories: these are networks that store and transmit plans for nuclear weapons design, special materials for their manufacture and strategic communications between laboratories, production centers and the pentagon. The first one, the NNSA Enterprise Secure Networkserves to share Restricted data between key actors of nuclear arsenal. The second, Siprnetallows the flow of information classified between the Department of Energy and Defense, including operations that could compromise national security if they were disclosed. Although it appears in the access directories does not equals to directly see classified documents (by the policy of “Need To Know”), experts Consulted by NPR They emphasize that it is the technical “head” that could provide future applications or expand the scope of influence within those platforms. Shadows on transparency. Plus: the incident adds to a series of controversial episodes starred By Doge In other federal agencies. As we count in February, a purge in the NSA directed by Doge (reviring only partially after public pressure) caused the dismissal of dozens of nuclear area employees. Shortly after, an informant denounced that Doge members had accessed internal systems of the National Board of Labor Relations (NLRB), requesting that They will not register their activities and deactivating monitoring tools, in addition to delete access traces. Not just that. One of the income attempts was made from an IP address located in Russia Using credentials created by Doge, which unleashed new suspicions and ignited cybersecurity alerts in several sectors of the government. These movements, added to the recent scandal by the use of signal application On the part of the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to discuss sensitive military operations, they delineate a dangerous informality pattern and reckless management of critical information of the nation. The Doge experiment. Thus, the very existence of Doge, an entity born to “modernize the State” under the tutelage of Musk, begins to be questioned even between related sectorsgiven its opaque growth and the lack of accountability. His model (which combines entrepreneurs, technologists and actors outside the public administration) was sold as a response to the traditional bureaucracy, but it is generating fissures in institutional security and control systems. The case of Farritor and Ramadapeople without experience in intelligence or defense, shows the risks of introducing private operators in the ultrasecreta spheres of the State without proper safeguards. While the Department of Energy avoids giving explanations about why these accounts were created, analysts such as Hans Kristensen, of the Nuclear Information Projectthey warn that even unlacified budgets require delicate technical referencesand that any “ajar door” can have unpredictable consequences. A parallel state. The truth is that, far from being an isolated incident, Doge insertion into nuclear networks reveals a broader and more dangerous trend: the emergence of a administrative power not electedwith access to privileged information, but without clear legal mandate or sufficient democratic supervision. If you want also, it implies that the logic of “technocratic” access overlaps institutional logic, and in that scenario the state becomes a testing ground for Operators with own agendas. The consequences of this reconfiguration are still in development (even overlaps Musk’s output), but the scandal leaves a warning meridianly clear: when the obsession with efficiency eliminates controls, which is gained at speed can cost very expensive, at least, In security. Image | Gage Skidmore In Xataka | Elon Musk fired hundreds of employees and now he has to hire them again: they were experts in nuclear weapons In Xataka | Elon Musk fired 6,000 employees two weeks ago. Now the US faces the massive entry of invasive species

Elon Musk’s DOGE would seek to eliminate the penny coin due to its cost

Donald Trump’s entry into the presidency has been dizzying. He has already approved several measures through his executive orders. Within them, he created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that will be directed by billionaire Elon Musk. And like the president, the owner of X already has his first objective when assuming his new position: remove the penny. According to a recent post on XDOGE wrote that the cost of producing a penny in the United States exceeds its nominal value, which makes it an unnecessary expense for taxpayers. According to the data provided, the US government currently spends more than 3 cents to manufacture each penny, while its value is just 1 cent (¢1). The DOGE highlighted that the US Mint produced more than 4.5 billion pennies in fiscal year 2023, representing about 40% of all coins in circulation. This process cost taxpayers more than $179 million dollars in that same year.. This figure reflects a considerable increase, since in 2016 the cost of manufacturing a penny was only 1.5 cents, less than half of what it costs today. The focus of DOGE is not limited to just the penny. Under Musk, the goal is to reduce federal spending significantly. In previous statements, former President Donald Trump assured that DOGE would provide recommendations to “cut excessive regulations, eliminate unnecessary spending and restructure federal agencies.” Musk, for his part, has made it clear that his group aims goal to reduce annual federal government spending by $500 billion. The rising cost of producing a penny is not new. According to the US Mint’s annual report for 2024, now Approximately 3.7 cents are spent for every penny manufactured and distributed. This is due in part to the increase in the price of zinc, the main material used in its manufacture, whose cost per metric ton has doubled in value since 2016. Over the years, there have been several proposals to discontinue pennies minting, including a suggestion in 2015 by then-Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. However, some economists have warned that Removing pennies could come with complicated side effects, such as rounding off prices to multiples of 5 centswhich could lead to increases in the costs of small products. Other countries have made the decision to eliminate their low-value currencies. Canada, for example, stopped minting its one cent coin in 2012. A 2018 economic analysis found that, as a result of this move, Canadian consumers paid an additional $3.27 million annually due to price rounding in supermarkets. However, it is recognized that eliminating pennies can also reduce operating costs, such as the time it takes to count and exchange these coins, which, as the old business adage goes, “time is money.” DOGE is not limited to just the penny. According to the 2024 Mint report, nickel is also in the spotlightsince it costs about 14 cents to produce and distribute each 5-cent coin. You may also be interested in:

An executive order paves the way for Elon Musk to fire them from DOGE

As soon as Trump was sworn in under the watchful eye of his new Praetorian Guard made up of the greatest fortunes in the worldgot to work signing the first decrees. One of the priority decrees was the official creation of DOGEhe Efficiency Department Government that will be directed by Elon Musk. The second, change the status of federal workers so that Musk can fire them at his discretion. Fire career officials. One of the most controversial points of the executive order that Donald Trump signed after his appointment is the change in status for career officials, in charge of enforcing regulations regardless of who occupies the Oval Office. To guarantee this independence, these officials had additional protection contemplated in Annex F (Schedule F). One of Trump’s executive orders mandates change this protected statusso they can now be fired if they do not comply with the orders of their superiors. This was one of the requirements of Project 2025 which has been developed by the most radical wing of the Republican Party, and which Trump has denied throughout the campaign, until just after his appointment. Only loyal officials. In another section of this executive order it is established that “Because SES officials exercise significant government authority, they must act at the will of the president”, placing special emphasis on that presidential figure, for which it has modified different sections of Annex F “Failure to do so will be grounds for dismissal,” the order states. Scott Michelman, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, assured from a statement issued by the organization that “The executive order on the federal workforce is a power grab by Trump, expanding his authority to fire employees he perceives as insufficiently loyal.” Michelman claims that, “during the last Trump administration, he encountered federal workers who were following the law, rather than indiscriminately following his orders. Federal workers should not be fired because they are more loyal to the US Constitution than to the president. That is a threat to both our constitutional values ​​and the rule of law.” “The real goal of the order is to target workers based on their real or perceived disloyalty toward the president and his political goals,” Scott Michelman concludes. The excuse of efficiency. Another of the controversial points that complement this executive order is that all officials and the 2.3 million federal civilian employees must be evaluated for the efficiency of their work and, if it is not satisfactory, they could be fired. However, that same order prohibits “certain personnel actions” and “actions based on the employee’s partisan affiliation, other protected characteristics or due to the employee’s status as a whistleblower.” Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, declared to the cnn: “President Trump’s order is a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by removing employees’ due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons. It will eliminate hundreds of thousands of federal nonpartisan professional civil service jobs and make them responsible before the will of a man”. Closing of hiring and teleworking. Given the massive filtering that the entire US federal administration is going to face, the executive order signed by Trump hours after his appointment, indefinitely canceled any contracting process of the administration. Furthermore, the order signed by Trump urges all federal employees without exception to go to their offices, all being revoked teleworking agreements. The only exception would be that, as how it happened In some Amazon offices, the facilities did not have enough capacity to accommodate them all. In that case, it is anticipated that “provided department and agency heads make such exemptions as they deem necessary,” so they could send some officials back home. According to data provided by nearby sources to the new government, its calculations show that only 6% of public employees work from the offices of their agencies. However, a report prepared by the US Congress reveals that the figure is much higher, exceeding 54%, and only 10% of civil servants do it completely remotely. In Xataka | Musk begins to reap the fruits of his support for Trump: he will be in charge of a cuts department called DOGE Image | Flickr (Gage Skidmore, Government of India)

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