Former Palantil and Elon Musk teammates take over important government roles

The Trump administration has replaced some of the country’s top tech officials with Silicon Valley talent linked to Elon Musk and businesses, linked to Peter Thiel. This makes it easier for people with masks Government Efficiency Bureau (Doge) Engineers to access Sensitive government systemsources and experts say.

Over the past few weeks, several Musk Alliance technical leaders have been set up as Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and Department of Energy (Chief Information Officer, or CIOS) . doe). The CIO manages the agency’s information technology and oversees access to sensitive databases and systems, including classified databases.

“Federal agency CIOs have authority over all agency asset management, including software used to monitor civil servant laptops and phones,” said former Biden, with first-hand knowledge of the CIO’s capabilities. an official told WIRED. There are databases and systems, and all IT contracts per Fitara (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act), and Musk may be working in the agency. the inspector general).

So far, all of these new CIOs have been appointed. However, in most agents, this position is met by career civil servants. Last week, OPM iI ssed a new note It reclassifies these nonpartisan roles and essentially allows the Trump administration to freely replace CIOs to better carry out its agenda. Previous appointments could serve as indicators of who will take over the IT department across the government after the order is enacted.

Later last month, Gregory Barbaccia He was hired as the federal chief information officer who oversees the performance of all federal agencies and manages budgets. Barbaccia’s LinkedIn shows that he spent most of his career on Tech, including a decade-long stint with Palantir. When Barbaccia left Palantia in 2020, his role was in charge of intelligence and investigation. Palantir CEO Alex Karp recently referred to Doge’s “disruption” in cost-cutting initiatives, saying, “Whatever is good for America is good for Americans and is very good for Palantir.” The company has it Billions have been created through government contracts. Palantir shares hit a record high last week after a quarterly profit report that was better than expected. Last week, Palantir announcement Musk’s large-scale language model Grok is planned to integrate with Palantir’s AI platform.

Ryan Riedel was established last week as DOE’s Chief Information Officer. E&E News. At DOE, the CIO oversees all technical operations and cybersecurity initiatives, as well as elements of the National Nuclear Security Agency, which oversees the US nuclear weapons stockpile. Riedel It is reportedly I worked as a “lead network security engineer” at Musk’s Rocket Company SpaceX.

Not all new CIOs have a direct relationship with Musks and Palantia, but they all have deep Silicon Valley ties. Greg Hogan is now OPM’s CIOor essentially the human resources department of the US government. Hogan is said to be a special civil servant, not a full-time OPM employee. According to a recent lawsuit. Hogan previously worked for Comma.ai, a company that builds automated driving software. Musk is said to have raised a job offer for former Comma.ai CEO George Hotz in 2015, working on autonomous driving technology. It is reportedly sour After Hotz claimed that his self-driving technology is better than Tesla.