“Musk needs to be arrested with no bail until he accounts for the information that he has stolen and tells where it has been stored and located,” Perez said. “Unfortunately, that is very unlikely to happen.”
Nearly a month into the second Trump administration, the president and his rubber-stamp Congress seem to have given Elon Musk complete control over, and access to, the federal government’s online infrastructure, and the vast amount of data on American citizens it contains.
As a result, this raises a host of red flags around data security and the need for strict ethical guidelines around the protection and use of government data and artificial intelligence, according to a leading cybersecurity expert.
Tony Perez, the founder and CEO of Netlok, and someone with over four decades of cybersecurity expertise, said that Musk’s dealings with the government, at the very least, is a conflict of interest.
“From a cybersecurity viewpoint, I believe that the major threat is Musk having the ability to steal taxpayer personal information to expand his database in ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), which can be used against taxpayers,” Perez told FOSS Force. “Since Musk has already shown that he will use X to spread misinformation and undermine the government by spreading lies to the ordinary citizen, he can use his powerful social media tool against taxpayers and the best interests of the country. In my opinion, the conflict of interest pales in comparison to his threat to national security.”
That includes AI too, according to Perez.
“For example, Musk can also use this stolen database information to enhance his version of AI to study and attack taxpayers and economic competitors,” Perez explained. “Since he is motivated by money and power, I believe Musk can be persuaded to bring the US infrastructure down, if it serves his purpose of being the wealthiest person and most powerful person in the world. After all, he is not a native-born American citizen, (he) has had private conversations with Russia and China, and is clearly behaving like a corrupted power-hungry dictator.”
Perez added that given the security risk, “Musk needs to be arrested with no bail until he accounts for the information that he has stolen and tells where it has been stored and located. Unfortunately, that is very unlikely to happen.”
One Solution is Brewing
Perez does not think that the court system will bail out the US government in this case because Trump and the Republicans have a stronghold over the Supreme Court and other federal courts. However, the clock is running, “and we are running out of time to stop Musk and the Administration,” he said.
But there is one solution on the horizon, explains Perez.
“By breaking things and using tariffs as an economic tool, Trump is turning the world against the US because world leaders can no longer trust the US as an ally and/or legitimate party to numerous agreements. For example, both Canada and Mexico are signing contracts to export valuable energy and precious metals to China and the EU,” he said.
“Since Canadian leadership views Trump’s tariffs as a tool to hurt Canada’s economy, they are fighting back and the 40 million plus Canadian people are solidifying and becoming anti-American. Quite frankly the Canadians could execute a severe blow to the US economy by stopping all energy shipments to the US immediately. The US could not recover for several years and would suffer a severe recession to the delight of China and Russia.”
Therefore, according to Perez, “the most likely solutions to Musk’s and Trump’s actions will likely come from international leaders who have had enough of this power play. My concern is that it will happen quickly.”
What’s to Be Done?
From his own experience in the cybersecurity field, Perez said that federal, state, and local governments need to modernize and follow best practices to operate in the digital world. The first step would be to lower the risk by restoring the prior security policies and procedures that existed before Musk entered the picture.
“It has been well reported that the federal government had solid policies, procedures, and people to protect national security information,” Perez said. “Trump, who has violated those policies by carelessly storing classified documents at his personal residence, has been using Musk as a wrecking ball to destroy those well-defined and effective procedures and firing qualified workers. Once we reinstall the previous practices, all governments need to work with private security leaders and their people to strengthen the nation’s security architecture.”
And people like Musk, and others, who could arguably be considered neophytes in this current endeavor?
“Like any other person applying for these jobs, they need to go through a thorough security vetting process to assure us that they are qualified to do the job and be in competition with other qualified candidates,” Perez said. “When it comes to national security, it should not be awarded to the smartest person but to the person who has the appropriate experience and proves themselves to be trustworthy.”
In other words, “It requires that the hiring entity does the best job it can to qualify and vet the appropriate candidates. The federal government has appropriate policies and procedures but Trump has effectively ignored them.”
Leadership May Already Be Here
Perez believes that the leadership already exists to show us the way and help build the relationships and systems needed to protect our country.
“However, Trump is eliminating some and threatening others to the point that they are caving in to save their financial position. In other words, greed is winning and too many leaders are being compromised.”
As for AI, Perez casts an ominous tone for its future.
“I’m always saddened when the bad side of technology takes over and robs us of solutions that would benefit all mankind,” he said. “For example, there is no doubt that AI could help solve health issues, energy, farming, etc. But instead of trying to improve life for all mankind, we revert back to greed, envy and jealousy to destroy one another.”
Sad commentary that someone as technically proficient as Mr. Perez is simultaneously hopelessly clueless as to the role that Musk plays in helping to reform the rampant corruption, fraud and abuse the left (mostly) has sewn into the fabric of the federal government. Charges of ‘stolen’ information and the like are a telltale sign to rest of us of someone who can’t see the forest for the trees. Our only hope for the health and sanity of financial policy in this country is that Musk et al will get enough done before the BS artists of the left figure out a way to continue enriching themselves. It’s a race!
If no one did anything wrong, no need to be concerned about government transparency.