Calling Elon Musk an “unelected billionaire,” U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said that his having access to Americans’ private and personal information — including their sensitive tax documents — raises all kinds of questions about the use and abuse of that information for targeting citizens, and that the broad targeting of government employees could result in making Americans less safe.
Musk has rapidly been consolidating controls over large swaths of the federal government by sidelining career officials, gaining access to sensitive databases, and dismantling USAID, a leading source of humanitarian assistance around the globe.
According to the Associated Press, Musk, who has been named a special government employee, has created an “alternative power structure inside the federal government for the purpose of cutting spending and pushing out employees,” all of which is happening without any congressional approval.
“Musk’s personal interests — from his vast investments in Community China to his opposition to the Big Three — simply don’t align with the interests of the average Michigander,” Slotkin said in a statement.
“I served for over 15 years in the federal government, working to protect the country from terrorist threats. The broad targeting across our federal government of everyone from law enforcement to flight safety inspectors to weather forecasters or those who test our drinking water, to pediatricians conducting clinical trials for children with cancer, is not just wrong — it will result in Americans being less safe.”
Slotkin said that she has no problems “cutting fat from the system,” but Musk’s approach is “way too broad and risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to professions that Americans rely on, whether they know it or not.”
