Last year, in response to Elon Musk’s paranoia about supposed threats on his life, the U.S. Marshals Service deputized members of his security detail despite a lack of qualifications, according to a new NBC News report.
Citing 2025 emails recently obtained from the Marshals Service by progressive advocacy group Democracy Forward, NBC News reports that the agency allowed members of Musk’s security detail to skirt basic requirements necessary to be deputized as federal agents. (MS NOW has not reviewed the emails.) The move by the USMS gave members of Musk’s security detail the ability to operate as federal officers, including the ability to carry weapons on federal property.
In other words, President Donald Trump’s biggest campaign donor was allowed to convert some of his personal security guards into federal officers despite an obvious lack of credentials.
Last February, as he was made the head of the quasi-governmental Department of Government Efficiency (a role he held through May), Musk made public comments saying his large security detail was necessary, and perhaps “should be bigger,” because he doesn’t “have a death wish.” That Musk’s security had been deputized was known at the time, but NBC News’ report on these emails shines light on the U.S. Marshals’ internal deliberations to make Musk comfortable:
The Marshals Service first considered deputizing Musk’s security detail during the first week of February, according to the emails, as Musk was immersed in trying to dismantle federal agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development. But there was a potential hiccup: Musk’s security detail did not meet what the Marshals Service considered to be the basic requirements to be deputized as federal law enforcement.
The report says the USMS authorized waivers for members of Musk’s security detail — waivers that were necessary “because they had not successfully completed a ‘basic law enforcement training program’ or did not possess at least one year of law enforcement experience with an agency that had general arrest authority.”
That decision apparently came after the Justice Department’s inspector general published a 2024 report that found the service had deputized people who were ineligible or for questionable reasons.
There are certainly questions lingering around this fiasco. The NBC News report said it’s not clear whether Musk’s security detail is still deputized, despite the fact that he is no longer officially a federal employee:
It’s not clear when the Marshals Service ended the special deputation of Musk’s security detail or whether it has done so. The documents indicate that the deputation, which was officially granted the second week of February 2025, was scheduled to last two years. The agency said Thursday it was not immediately able to answer questions about the deputations. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Musk’s paranoia, which has been on display for years, appeared to escalate as he plotted to gut federal programs and use the government to enrich and shield his own companies. Before the 2024 presidential election, he claimed he would “probably need a lot of security” because of the cuts to federal programs he and Trump were planning. During the same speech, Musk warned that Trump’s policies would subject Americans to what he framed as necessary “hardship.”
Musk is among numerous Trump officials and associates whose security details have raised eyebrows over the past year. My colleague Steve Benen has written, for example, about the abnormally large security details of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino and border czar Tom Homan. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has also attracted criticism for using funds allocated to the U.S. Agency for International Development to pay for his security detail.
This latest revelation about Musk’s security speaks to several overlapping patterns of disturbing behavior by the Trump administration: shameless cronyism, a willingness to lower federal standards and empower underqualified officers, and a palpable fear of the public.
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