White House communications experts say Elon Musk’s team at the U.S. DOGE Service and their administration allies blew off their concerns that there could be security breaches when they installed Musk-owned Starlink internet service at the complex this year.
Three people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post that the people who manage the White House communications system also were not told in advance when the DOGE team installed a terminal on the roof of the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building to connect the complex’s users to Starlink, the paper reported Saturday.
The service is owned by Musk’s private SpaceX company, and the Post’s sources said people managing the systems were not able to monitor the connections being sent to stop hackers from breaking in or sensitive information going out.
The sources couldn’t verify if the rooftop terminal is still installed now that Musk is no longer involved with the government, but a “Starlink Guest” WiFi network that appeared on White House phones in February was still appearing this week.
Further, the link prompted users for a password only, without a username or other authentication.
The White House referred questions about the matter to the U.S. Secret Service, where spokesman Anthony Gugliemi said that the agency was aware of DOGE’s intentions to improve internet access and “did not consider this matter a security incident or security breach.”
However, personal phones at the White House that use guest WiFi networks need to have user names and passwords that expire after a week.
Work computers are also programmed with security systems, and staff interactions with the outside are “very thoroughly tracked,” said one of the Post’s sources, who left the government after Starlink was installed.
Starlink, the source said, “allows you to transmit data without any kind of record or tracking. White House IT systems had very strong controls on network access. You had to be on a full-tunnel VPN at all times. If you are not on the VPN, White House-issued devices can’t connect to the outside.”
This meant that by using Starlink, White House devices could leave the VPN and connect to the outside, allowing them to bypass security, another source commented.
Starlink did not respond to requests for comment, but it has said that its satellite connections are harder to hack than other connections.
Former White House officials have taken their concerns to Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., the committee’s top Democrat, said the use of Starlink at the White House is under investigation.
“It could have the potential to undermine our national security by exposing sensitive data and information to hackers, our adversaries, or those wishing to do Americans harm,” he said.
The Pentagon’s Defense Information Systems Agency has strict restrictions for communications at the White House, only allowing approved devices to access official resources.
Extensive security software is in place to monitor traffic leaving the building and to guard against cyberattacks.
Meanwhile, Starlink is also in use at other government agencies. According to a whistleblower, Starlink has been installed at the National Labor Relations Board.
Also, a former General Services Administration official told The Post that DOGE Employees were using the internet services there until at last last month.
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