Musk to visit Pentagon following an invitation from Secretary Hegseth

Elon Musk will pay a visit to the Pentagon on Friday after the tech billionaire received an invitation from Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Defense Department said late Thursday evening.

Elon Musk will pay a visit to the Pentagon on Friday after the tech billionaire received an invitation from Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Defense Department said late Thursday evening. “The Defense Department is excited to welcome Elon Musk to the Pentagon on Friday. He was invited by Secretary Hegseth and is just visiting,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNN. The New York Times reported earlier Thursday that Musk will be briefed on the US military’s top-secret plan for any war that might break out with China. The visit comes as the Pentagon, encouraged by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, considers major cuts to the top of the military in an effort to embrace the Trump administration’s push to shrink the federal government. Hegseth said last month that DoD would be leaning on DOGE to help the department “find fraud, waste and abuse in the largest discretionary budget in the federal government.” CNN has reached out to the White House and the Department of Government Efficiency for comment. Hegseth’s recent strategic guidance memo, sent to Pentagon leaders earlier this month and reviewed by CNN, directed a shift in focus and resources towards a possible conflict with China but offered few details as to what that would look like.