US lawmaker urges NASA to revoke Musk's access to agency

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Rep. Grace Meng said Wednesday that she wrote a letter to the acting head of NASA to revoke billionaire Elon Musk's access to the space agency's headquarters.

"Any access could provide Mr. Musk's company, SpaceX, with insider information that would benefit SpaceX at the expense of that company's competitors and the taxpayers. Such a visit would be wildly inappropriate,” Meng said in the letter dated Tuesday.

Meng, in the letter to acting administrator Janet Petro, said that Musk has enjoyed "nearly unfettered" access to data across several government agencies and offices since Jan. 20.

"At the same time, SpaceX is NASA’s largest private contractor, receiving nearly $2.3 billion from the agency in Fiscal Year 2023.

"Providing such access to Mr. Musk at NASA would create a blatant, multi-billion-dollar conflict of interest — exactly the kind of coziness between government and industry and corruption that my constituents fear happens in Washington," she added.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday giving Musk's unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) the power to direct federal agencies in cost-reduction efforts.

Trump praised his work which has proved controversial with the public and legal scholars, who have called it unconstitutional. Trump also called on Musk to take on further responsibilities.