Elon Musk’s Starlink Takes Over the White House

Tech oligarch Elon Musk has extended his influence over the White House even further: His Starlink internet service has been made accessible across the White House campus.

Trump administration officials say Musk donated the service, and that it was vetted by the Office of the White House Counsel’s lawyer handling ethics issues. But according to former White House officials from the Biden administration, tech donations need to go through approval from the chief information officers at the White House and the General Services Administration.

The Starlink system is routed through a White House data center with existing fiber cables miles away from Washington, D.C., unlike normal Starlink setups, which involve rectangular terminals that receive internet signals from SpaceX satellites orbiting arth.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Starlink was set up “to improve Wi-Fi connectivity on the complex.” Other administration staff told The New York Times that some parts of the White House complex could not get cell service, with Wi-Fi networks handling too much traffic at times.

There are a few problems with having the world’s richest man donate internet service to the White House: namely, the numerous conflicts of interest and ethics issues. Musk already collects billions of dollars through his government contracts, and controls Starlink. If White House employees are using the internet service, he could have access to their data. There are also questions as to how secure Starlink’s network is.

Starlink has also been set up at the GSA, an agency used as a base for Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. And it has contracts with many other government agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, usually to provide internet access in remote locations and in emergency situations. The fact that it’s now being used at one of the most important U.S. federal buildings raises questions about whether Musk has an ulterior motive—and what that may be.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency staffers used police and private security to forcefully take over the U.S. Institute of Peace on Monday.

The USIP, an independent nonprofit founded by Congress, had its president, Greg Moose, and its board fired last week by the Trump administration. The Associated Press reported that DOGE workers on Monday had law enforcement escort them into USIP, which is not located in a federal building, after previously being denied access.

“DOGE just came into the building—they’re inside the building—they’re bringing the F.B.I. and brought a bunch of D.C. police,” USIP lawyer Sophia Lin told The New York Times as she and other staff members were forced out of the building.

“What has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit,” Moose told reporters. “It was very clear that there was a desire on the part of the administration to dismantle a lot of what we call foreign assistance, and we are part of that family.”

It’s business as usual from the White House’s perspective.

Due to USIP staff’s noncompliance with Trump’s order, “11 board members were lawfully removed, and remaining board members appointed Kenneth Jackson acting president,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said. “Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage. The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.”

The privately operated USIP works to maintain U.S. diplomacy abroad, and its staff was doing all they could do to emphasize that before the DOGE break-in. “I can’t imagine how our work could align more perfectly with the goals that he has outlined: keeping us out of foreign wars, resolving conflicts before they drag us into those kinds of conflicts,” Moose noted. Musk seems to disagree. 

The White House co-signed on Israel’s surprise attack on Gaza late Monday. The wave of airstrikes killed more than 400 Palestinians and upended a Donald Trump–backed ceasefire agreement put in place to advance hostage negotiations.

“The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News late Monday.

She then delivered a chilling warning for the countries and organizations that the Trump administration believes are in opposition to the United States.

“And as President Trump has made it clear, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran—all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America—will see a price to pay; all hell will break loose,” Leavitt said, celebrating America’s own airstrike campaign in Yemen over the weekend.

Israeli officials had threatened an attack for weeks as it failed to move forward on a potential peace deal with Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to enter phase two of the ceasefire agreement after phase one of the deal lapsed March 1. Phase two would have started agreements to end the war and withdraw the remaining Israeli troops from Gaza before Israeli hostages were handed over. Instead of following through on their own drafted ceasefire terms, Netanyahu proposed a new arrangement: Hand over half the hostages and then discuss the end of the war.

Hamas rejected these terms, and in turn, Israel restricted humanitarian aid and cut electricity into the region in a pressure campaign to get the militant group to bend.

Both Israel and Hamas disagreed over key aspects of an alternative proposal offered by U.S. officials, which would have extended phase one into April. On Saturday, the U.S. accused Hamas of making “entirely impractical” demands of Israel in the ongoing ceasefire discussions. By Sunday, Netanyahu announced that he would be firing his domestic security chief, who had led ceasefire negotiations for most of the war.

The airstrikes are the heaviest attack by Israel since the ceasefire took effect in January. They hit in conjunction with an evacuation order, issued by Israel, for parts of northern and central Gaza near the perimeter of the two countries. The Guardian reported that the order suggested that a ground invasion involving troops could be “imminent.”

Israeli officials have claimed that attacking Hamas leadership would advance the release of hostages, even as the hostages’ families disagree. But on a practical level, the attack follows a period of rest and restocking for Israel.

“Ammunition stocks have been replenished—partly due to U.S. deliveries—and new potential targets among Hamas’ leaders identified. Planes and other equipment have been repaired. Troops have been rested,” reported The Guardian.

And it’s not clear that handing over the hostages would end the violence against Gaza, either. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition has said it intends to continue the war as long as Hamas remains in the war-battered region, reported NPR.

Donald Trump called out two reporters at The Atlantic by name in his latest tirade against media outlets that are willing to report fairly on him.

In what is becoming a more regular occurrence, the president posted yet another meltdown directed at the press on his Truth Social Monday. This time, he targeted specific journalists by name, Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, seemingly over an article they published earlier this month about his dreams of despotism.

The president claimed that the “Third Rate Magazine, ‘The Atlantic,’ that made up the ‘Suckers and Losers’ Hoax about me and the Military, and refused to even acknowledge the vast horde of people who emphatically denied this FAKE STORY,” had requested an interview with him.

Trump included his strongly worded reply, which was a list of smears and grievances.

“Ashley Parker is not capable of doing a fair and unbiased interview. She is a Radical Left Lunatic, and has been as terrible as is possible for as long as I have known her,” he wrote. “To this date, she doesn’t even know that I won the Presidency THREE times. If you have some other reporter, let us know, but Ashley is not capable or competent enough to understand the intricacies of High Level politics.

“Likewise, Michael Scherer has never written a fair story about me, only negative, and virtually always LIES,” Trump continued.

“The Atlantic is doing terribly, losing a fortune, and will hopefully fold up and be gone in the not too distant future. It has absolutely no credibility, and would be far better off, in terms of ‘journalism,’ to cease publication,” Trump wrote. “Nevertheless, when you have a writer with intelligence, competence, and fairness, please let me know!”

While it’s not entirely clear what set the president off this time, earlier this month, Parker and Scherer had published a piece titled “Trump’s Own Declaration of Independence” about Trump’s outlandish demand to move the Declaration of Independence into the Oval Office.

This request presented as ridiculous for two main reasons. First, the president seems to eschew all the convictions held within the actual document: that all men are created equal, that power is divined from the consent of the governed, and the crucial rejection of monarchy, supposedly celebrated by the president who jokingly calls himself the “King.”

Secondly, on a purely logistical level, it seemed impossible. The original document, made of animal-skin parchment, is kept in an oxygen-free, argon-filled case behind heavy glass, which retracts into the wall at night and is kept away from bright lights.

But Trump seems intent on redecorating his digs to add as much pomp and circumstance as possible—and it seems he got his way, or at least some facsimile of it: A copy of the Declaration of Independence is currently hanging in the Oval Office, shielded by short blue curtains.

The Trump administration plans to upend and cripple the Social Security claims process, according to a memo obtained by Popular Information.

An internal  Social Security Administration memo, sent on March 13, outlines changes to the agency that would cause processing delays and prevent Americans from applying for as well as receiving benefits, ostensibly to reduce “fraud risks” according to its author, acting Deputy Commissioner Doris Diaz.

The changes include requiring that people seeking benefits provide proof of identity over the internet for benefit claims made over the phone. If someone is “unable to utilize the internet ID proofing, customers will be required to visit a field office to provide in-person identity documentation.”

Right now, Social Security claims and identity verification can be done over the phone thanks to staffers answering calls on its toll-free number. Actual fraud is rare, because people have to provide multiple pieces of personal information, checked against medical records, bank statements, pay stubs, and tax returns, depending on the type of claim. 

Beyond that, if there are any discrepancies, an applicant might have to mail their birth certificate to the agency. This entire process allows people who are elderly or disabled, and thus have difficulty accessing the internet or visiting a physical office, to apply for and collect Social Security benefits. 

Introducing internet verification would be a significant hardship to the 40 percent of Social Security beneficiaries who depend on the phone service. If they can’t use the internet system, they would also have to visit a physical location. Diaz’s own memo estimates that 75,000 to 85,000 people would have to visit Social Security offices under the new policy. 

But even before the Department of Government Efficiency’s massive cuts to the agency, the SSA’s physical offices had an average wait time of more than a month. They don’t accept walk-ins and would not be able to accommodate such a large increase in foot traffic. 

The Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner, Leland Dudek, recently announced further cuts of 7,000 employees, or about 12 percent of the agency. Physical offices around the country are being closed, and some people are more than 100 miles away from the nearest location. On top of that, one day before the memo was issued, the agency was reportedly considering ending its phone service altogether due to misguided concerns from DOGE over widespread fraud.

After an outcry over ending the phone service, the SSA denied that it was being eliminated, with this memo appearing to be a workaround. Even still, if these changes go through, many disabled and elderly people will have major difficulties in getting their benefits and may end up losing them altogether. The memo foresees this, stating there will be “service disruption,” “operational strain,” and “budget shortfalls.” All of that is a euphemism for causing irreparable damage to Social Security.