• Elon Musk is the founder-CEO of rocket company SpaceX.
• But Musk isn't privy to all of SpaceX's classified work with the US government, per the WSJ.
• Musk obtained top-secret clearance in 2022.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's security clearance doesn't grant him complete access to the company's classified work with the US government.

Musk isn't allowed to enter SpaceX facilities where classified information is being deliberated upon, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The billionaire also isn't privy to the classified cargo SpaceX launches into space as part of the company's contracts with US national security agencies, per the outlet.

In October, Musk said at a Trump campaign event in Pennsylvania that he has "top-secret clearance" for his work at SpaceX.

Musk obtained his top-secret clearance in 2022, following a review process that took years, the Journal reported. SpaceX's lawyers had advised the company not to seek a higher security clearance for Musk because he would have to disclose details about his drug use and interactions with foreign nationals.

In 2018, Musk appeared to smoke a joint during an interview with Joe Rogan. Musk later said in an interview with "60 Minutes" that he had "no idea how to smoke pot."

When the Journal reported about Musk's drug use in January, he said that "not even trace quantities were found of any drugs or alcohol" in his system when NASA requested that he undergo three years of random drug testing.

As for interactions with foreign nationals, Musk's business dealings have seen him meet with various foreign leaders over the years.

In April, Musk visited China, where he met with Premier Li Qiang, the country's second-highest-ranking politician. The two discussed the roll-out of Tesla's self-driving technology in China.

In October, the Journal reported that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. In a statement, SpaceX said the Journal's story was "incredibly misleading" and based on "completely unsubstantiated claims."

Musk and Trump's relationship grows closer

Musk's clearance status might no longer be a problem for him, given his close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump.

Musk endorsed Trump and spent at least $119 billion on his campaign. In the past weeks, he has reportedly joined Trump on calls with world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In November, Trump announced Musk as the co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO will lead the commission alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk and Ramaswamy have talked about significantly reducing the size of the federal workforce and shutting down entire government agencies like the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. It was valued at about $350 billion during the latest round of staff share purchases. Musk is currently worth an estimated $455 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the richest person in the world by a roughly $200 billion margin.

Representatives for Musk at SpaceX and the Defense Department did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Bernie Sanders says Elon Musk is right about the Defense Department's wasteful spending.
• The DOGE co-leader criticized the Pentagon's F-35 program and $841 billion budget last month.
• "Cool," Musk said in response to Sanders' remarks.

Elon Musk has a new supporter in his push to rein in government spending — Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

"Elon Musk is right," Sanders said of Musk's criticisms of the Defense Department's spending in an X post published Sunday.

"The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It's lost track of billions," Sanders wrote.

In November, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was tapped to co-lead President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

To be sure, Musk has yet to outline any specific cuts that the commission plans to make. But he did criticize the Pentagon's F-35 program in a series of X posts published on November 24.

Musk also referenced the Defense Department's $841 billion budget in an op-ed he wrote with his DOGE co-leader, Vivek Ramaswamy, for The Wall Street Journal on November 20.

"The Pentagon recently failed its seventh consecutive audit, suggesting that the agency's leadership has little idea how its annual budget of more than $800 billion is spent," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote.

Sanders echoed the pair's views on Sunday.

"Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud," Sanders wrote in his X post.

"That must change," he added.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Defense Department pointed Business Insider to a press briefing given by the department's CFO, Michael J. McCord, on November 15. During the briefing, McCord said the Pentagon has "a lot of work to do" on its audit performance but is "making progress."

Common ground on military spending aside, Sanders and Musk do have their political differences.

The 83-year-old is the longest-serving independent in Congress, though the progressive politician did run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020.

On Saturday, Sanders released a statement saying that America needed to "defeat the oligarchs and create an economy and government that works for all, not just the few."

"Today, in America, we have a political system that is increasingly controlled by the billionaire class. In the recent elections, just 150 billionaire families spent nearly $2 billion to get their candidates elected," Sanders said in the statement.

Musk, on the other hand, was a major contributor to Trump's 2024 campaign. The billionaire spent just under $119 million on his pro-Trump political action committee, America PAC.

"Cool," Musk said in an X post in response to a New York Post story about Sanders' remarks on defense spending.

Representatives for Sanders and Musk didn't respond to requests for comment from BI.