1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

I am writing in concern over reports of Elon Musk and his accomplices exerting control over government information systems. At best, Mr Musk and his team are unauthorized personnel who apparently are installing new email systems and blocking authorized employees from accessing government information systems. At worst, they are saboteurs with agendas that conflict with our laws and institutions. Already there are confirmed reports of entire agencies receiving deluges of pornographic spam and other inappropriate material due to misconfigurations on these new email servers. But it is what other opportunistic nation states are doing out of sight that is more troubling. There are corroborated reports that Mr. Musk’s team has not only accessed OPM systems without authorization, but actually locked out the authorized personnel. These systems contain information about all government employees and contractors, including security clearance paperwork, personal financial information, and healthcare and insurance information. Where is the immediate and aggressive emergency response to this dangerous and unauthorized activity into government information systems? The executive branch does not have the authority to permit any individual to conduct such operations. When Chinese government actors breached OPM in 2015, the reaction was swift and significant. This is as just as much of a hostile takeover, but the posture is one of blasé indifference. This must not stand. Every hour this activity continues, more information may be captures and exfiltrated by Mr Musk’s agents. Every hour foreign adversaries may be establishing beachheads in government networks. Every hour the scope of potential compromise and the cost of fixing the damage grows exponentially. The congress must resist the extreme actions of the executive and its minions. Without decisive and immediate pushback, we are lost.