Reports have surfaced indicating that two employees associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may have had access to highly classified information, potentially including details about the location of US nuclear weapons.
Luke Farritor, formerly an interim employee for SpaceX, allegedly had one of the government’s most sensitive files downloaded onto his computer. This file was found alongside data related to venture capitalist Adam Ramada, as per sources connected to NPR.
It appears that neither Farritor nor Ramada, who were both employed under Elon Musk’s DOGE, held positions where access to such sensitive information would be typical.
Anonymous sources claim they spotted the names of the two employees listed in a directory for networks believed to contain tightly secured nuclear secrets.
Nonetheless, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy (DOE), which manages the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA), denied that the employees had access. The NNSA is responsible for overseeing “the research, development, test, and acquisition programs that produce, maintain, and sustain nuclear warheads.”
The DOE spokesperson stated to NPR on April 28: “This reporting is false. No DOGE personnel have accessed these NNSA systems. The two DOGE individuals in question worked within the agency for several days and departed DOE in February.”
In a follow-up email to NPR, the DOE confirmed that although accounts were created for Farritor and Ramada, these accounts were never activated or accessed.
“DOE is able to confirm that these accounts in question were never activated and have never been accessed,” the department’s spokesperson clarified.
When CNN previously reported in February about possible attempts by DOGE employees to access secret networks, Energy spokesperson Chris Wright stated via CNBC: “I’ve heard these rumors, ‘They’re like seeing our nuclear secrets.’ None of that is true at all; they don’t have security clearances.”
Information allegedly found on the computers of Farritor and Ramada included data from two NNSA networks.
The first network reportedly contains “restricted data” on nuclear weapon designs, while the second is the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), used by the Department of Defense to communicate with the DOE regarding warheads.
NPR reports that accessing these networks requires a ‘Q’ clearance, a process that is generally lengthy but can be expedited in special circumstances.
A former Department of Defense employee informed the publication that SIPRNet’s information is classified at a secret level and that any potential leak “could potentially damage or harm national security if it were to get out.”
According to one of NPR’s sources, the accounts for Farritor and Ramada might have been an initial step into the network, allowing them to request classified information from DOE staff.
“They’re getting a little further in, it’s something to make note of,” the source noted to NPR. “It could lead to something bigger.”