Knowing what's in those plans could be really useful to China. Imagine the win-win situation for Tesla and China!
This article mentions two possible reasons for briefing Musk. First, to allow DOGE to cut the Pentagon budget responsibly. Later in the article, however, Starlink is mentioned as a target of China's attention.
Edit: Clarified last sentence.
This article has since been updated significantly to include Pentagon officials' vehement denials that the briefing is related to China. Lest anyone else get the last word, Musk is reported to have responded himself:
> In his own post on social media early Friday, Mr. Musk said he looked forward to “the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT.”
It's clear to me that he's adopted the vindictive style favored by Trump. I couldn't care less about his businesses, personally, but I worry deeply about what this means for governance in the US.
At this point, I fully expect a headline "Musk to receive the nuclear briefcase" and the article explaining in good faith that it's a cost cutting measure by DOGE, which will lead to the abolition of Income Tax.
Well done America, well done.