Musk to visit Pentagon following an invitation from Secretary Hegseth

(CNN) — Elon Musk will pay a visit to the Pentagon on Friday after the tech billionaire received an invitation from Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Defense Department said late Thursday evening.

“The Defense Department is excited to welcome Elon Musk to the Pentagon on Friday. He was invited by Secretary Hegseth and is just visiting,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNN.

The New York Times reported earlier Thursday that Musk will be briefed on the US military’s top-secret plan for any war that might break out with China.

President Donald Trump in a late night Truth Social post dismissed the New York Times report, saying that “China will not even be mentioned or discussed.”

The visit comes as the Pentagon, encouraged by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, considers major cuts to the top of the military in an effort to embrace the Trump administration’s push to shrink the federal government. Hegseth said last month that DoD would be leaning on DOGE to help the department “find fraud, waste and abuse in the largest discretionary budget in the federal government.”

CNN has reached out to the White House and the Department of Government Efficiency for comment.

Hegseth’s recent strategic guidance memo, sent to Pentagon leaders earlier this month and reviewed by CNN, directed a shift in focus and resources towards a possible conflict with China but offered few details as to what that would look like.

Multiple versions of US military war plans are often prepared at varying levels of classification, according to people familiar.

At the highest level, military operational plans contain so-called “code word” clearance information that involves sensitive sources and methods such as the use of human and technical assets. Less sensitive versions of briefings are also frequently prepared that do not include highly classified information. It is unclear which version will be presented to Musk.

CNN has reported that Musk has a top-secret security clearance and is serving in the Trump administration as a special government employee. However, even individuals with adequate security clearances still require a “need to know” before accessing particular information, according to the US government’s classified handling procedures.

According to a Justice Department summary, a special government employee is “anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period.”

Musk maintains lucrative contracts with the Defense Department. In October 2024, the US Space Force awarded $733 million in launch contracts to Musk’s SpaceX.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Kit Maher contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.