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.”
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
