Musk secretly met with leaders of China and Russia: ex-congressman spoke of a global threat

China and Russia are the main space rivals of the United States, Nick Lampson recalled.

SpaceX CEO, American billionaire and ally of US President-elect Donald Trump Elon Musk has met with top leaders of China and Russia on multiple occasions and failed to disclose information about those meetings, as required by federal law. That is absolutely inexcusable, writes former Texas Congressman Nick Lampson in a Newsweek column :

“Musk’s meetings with Chinese and Russian officials may have been innocuous, but if so, it begs the question: Why didn’t he report them as required? And even if they were innocuous, they still highlight the systemic vulnerabilities the United States faces because of its failure to require its contractors to keep their ties to hostile foreign powers.”

Lampson emphasized that the U.S. Air Force, Department of Defense and other agencies are now investigating Musk and SpaceX for this reason, recalling that the billionaire’s company has carried out nearly 80% of U.S. government-sponsored rocket launches, including critical national security missions.

“China and Russia are America’s top space rivals, and they are working together to challenge America’s space dominance. Congress and the Space Force must quickly address this issue by passing and implementing new legislation that mandates stricter screening and divestment requirements,” the author said.

Space is no longer a safe environment reserved only for exploration and scientific discovery, he said, but a contentious area where the stakes are high.

“Satellites underpin global communications, navigation and military operations, while control of lunar resources may be what determines economic dominance in the short term. Gaps in security and surveillance will allow America’s adversaries to exploit vulnerabilities in what could become the premier military domain of the future,” Lampson added.

In his view, winning the space race is far more important than maintaining loyalty to any one contractor:

“Decision makers in the United States must do what is necessary without delay.”

The world is threatened by a space war – what was reported

Recall that The Economist previously wrote that Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine opened a new chapter in space warfare . And the United States’ greatest fear now is China, which is seeking to match, if not surpass, America’s primacy in space.

As the vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Christopher Grady, said, space has now become “the most important domain of warfare.”

It was pointed out that in any future potential conflict between the US and China, satellites would be essential for finding and destroying targets at vast distances. Even today, much about the actions of certain countries in space remains hidden, but it is clear that the US is stepping up efforts to maintain its advantage there. It was also noted that the world would have to worry about more than just the fate of satellites if war broke out between China and the US.

(C)UNIAN 2025