US lawmakers raise alarm in letter to defence secretary Pete Hegseth: Mr. Musk's dual role creates …

US lawmakers are raising concerns about the conflict of interests arising from Elon Musk’s dual roles as the CEO SpaceX and a special government employee overseeing changes at NASA and the Department of Defense. In a letter addressed to the Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, the democratic lawmakers talked about the conflicts of interest around Elon Musk’s role. “"Mr.Musk's dual role creates an inherent conflict of interest between SpaceX's status as a large government contractor and DOGE's influence at agencies overseeing SpaceX contracts,” reads the letter. The lawmakers argue that Elon Musk’s position without the government gives him the liberty to shape the policies and influence the funding decisions which will image SpaceX’s government contracts. The lawmakers also highlight that the if the situation continues then there are chances that SpaceX will win major bids from NADA and DoD. "Mr. Musk's dual role creates an inherent conflict of interest between SpaceX's status as a large government contractor and DOGE's influence at agencies overseeing SpaceX contracts, contract bids, and regulations governing the company and its activities," the letter signed by the top Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee and the committee on Science, Space and Technology and others said.Presently, DOGE is looking after organisational changes at both DoD and NASA. DOGE is responsible for dismissal of probationary Defense employees, the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and contracts at NASA, and the elimination of entire programs at both agencies. Also, SpaceX is still serving as one of the biggest contractor for both DoD and NASA and it turns out be a win-win situation for Elon Musk."Because SpaceX performs significant work for the federal government across the national security and civil space architectures, even the perception of a conflict of interest is very troubling, and Mr. Musk's influence over the agencies awarding large contracts to his company goes far beyond mere perception," the letter said.The lawmakers are urging greater scrutiny of Musk’s involvement in federal decision-making, warning that even the perception of favouritism could damage public trust in government contracting. With agency inputs