Trump 2.0 - National security is an unecessary relic

 

Starlink terminals, rectangular panels that receive internet signals beamed from SpaceX satellites in low-Earth orbit, can be placed on physical structures. But instead of being physically placed at the White House, the Starlink system is now said to be routed through a White House data center, with existing fiber cables, miles from the complex.

White House officials said the installation was an effort to increase internet availability at the complex. They said that some areas of the property could not get cell service and that the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure was overtaxed.

  NYT

Bullshit.

But the circumstances are different from any previous situation to resolve internet services. Mr. Musk, who is now an unpaid adviser working as a “special government employee” at the White House, controls Starlink and other companies that have regulatory matters before or contracts with the federal government.

[...]

Clare Martorana, a former chief information officer at the White House during the Biden administration, said that typically people cannot simply give technology to the government. She said the White House’s chief information officer would need to sign off on a new system to ensure it was properly secured, as would the chief information officer at the General Services Administration.

Do those positions still even exist?

While several federal agencies contract with Starlink, the satellite service is typically used to provide internet access in emergency situations and to remote locations — not at federal buildings in Washington, which already have ample internet options.

[...]

It is less clear, however, that the Starlink internet service will significantly expand wireless internet capacity in buildings where fiber cables already provide access.

It was also unclear if Starlink communications were encrypted. At a minimum, the system allows for a network separate from existing White House servers that people on the grounds are able to use, keeping that data separate.

“It’s super rare” to install Starlink or another internet provider as a replacement for existing government infrastructure that has been vetted and secured, said Jake Williams, a vice president for research and development at Hunter Strategy, a cybersecurity consultancy. “I can’t think of a time that I have heard of that.”

“It introduces another attack point,” Mr. Williams said. “But why introduce that risk?”

Why, indeed.

At the General Services Administration, where the use of Starlink was reported earlier by NBC News, the service has been added to a list of apps approved for download on the agency’s mobile devices. That list also includes apps of two other Musk-led companies, X and Tesla, according to documents seen by The New York Times.

. According to a source familiar with the matter, during the first few weeks of the second Trump era, DOGE personnel reached out to officials at the FBI and Justice Department — and asked if the bureau had ever thought about adopting Starlink for sensitive operations and surveillance.

“I wanted to vomit,” this source says, adding that there is no conceivable reason the FBI would need Starlink.

  Rolling Stone

I think Musk owns America now. Quite the coup.