A Mysterious Nonprofit Run by SpaceXAI’s Top Lawyer Is Paying the Salaries of Government Workers
A Wired investigation reveals that a nonprofit linked to SpaceXAI's general counsel is funding government workers associated with the 'America by Design' initiative. The report questions the transparency and potential conflicts of interest regarding private sector influence in government staffing.
Why it matters
It raises significant ethical and regulatory questions about the intersection of private tech interests and public government administration.
As with DOGE before it, who exactly is a part of NDS—and what they’re working on—often remains opaque. But a WIRED investigation has found that at least two members of NDS are on loan to the government and are actually employed by a recently formed nonprofit, the America by Design Foundation. This entity appears to be run by James Burnham, a former member of DOGE and the current general counsel of SpaceXAI, the artificial intelligence space company founded by Musk. It is not clear who is funding the foundation or how much money it has.
These findings raise questions about whether NDS, like DOGE, is skirting rules and regulations to bring its chosen staff into government and is functioning as an arm of the tech industry as much as a government initiative.
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