Starlink satellite connections in the White House bypass controls meant to stop leaks and hacking.
Elon Musk’s team at the U.S. DOGE Service and allies in the Trump administration ignored White House communications experts worried about potential security breaches when DOGE personnel installed Musk’s Starlink internet service in the complex this year, three people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.
The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, said those who were managing White House communications systems were not informed in advance when DOGE representatives went to the roof of the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building in February to install a terminal connecting users in the complex to Starlink satellites, which are owned by Musk’s private SpaceX rocket company.
The people said those managing the systems weren’t able to monitor such connections to stop sensitive information from leaving the complex or hackers from breaking in.
Adding additional backup communication methods is a good thing. Your home might be fine with one connection, but large businesses often have 2 or more separate physical connections for redundancy. I’m sure places like the White House effectively have as many as they can. One of the worst things for the White House is to be disconnected from communication with the outside world.
This clearly wasn’t intended for that purpose, but I’m sure that’s at least partially how they sold it to get it done quickly get it installed now for DOGE use and it can be added to those systems later, additional ongoing revenue as well.
Do you think you’re the first person to come up with the concept of redundant internet connections to the fucking whitehouse? God Elon zombies are so unbelievably stupid.