I suppose the argument could be made that they would’ve gained access to everything competently and secretly, but I suppose it’s also possible Putin/Xi/etc. would’ve been smart enough to realize how dumb the average American voter is and how little they care about anything that isn’t immediately affecting the contents of their wallet (and thus how little doing anything with more than minimal effort was a waste of time).
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/28/nx-s1-5378684/doge-energy-dep...
> Luke Farritor, a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern and Adam Ramada, a Miami-based venture capitalist, have had accounts on the computer systems for at least two weeks, according to the sources who also have access to the networks. Prior to their work at DOGE, neither Farritor nor Ramada appear to have had experience with either nuclear weapons or handling classified information.
Also by definition everyone who receives an SCI clearance would have 0 experience working with anything of that nature. Nearly everyone who gets an account on JWICS (btw there are 30k+ accounts on JWICS, not exactly a small group) would have no experience working with the information hosted there.
I don't follow the line of reasoning in this article and honestly expected more than tabloid style reporting from NPR. Imagine the converse, if there were swathes of people with experience working with nuclear weapons or more dangerous military technology before getting any type of clearance from their government.
And what exactly is the "need to know" for DOGE here?
Above I specifically refer to SCI, the designation for things of dire national security impact, which quite literally mandates that information be fully compartmentalized and unattainable to the public. Above that we have SAPs or special clearances (e.g. Q for Nuclear, YW for White House).
It is not possible to work with nuclear weapons, serious satellites, advanced drone weaponry, or similar without first getting an SCI clearance. In fact all of these are prime examples of their specific marking compartments. There are even regulations below this (e.g. ITAR) that control who gets to work on military technology in general.
if i, or you, or anyone, was to independently realize how to increase yield of a weapon, or create a nuclear isomer weapon, it is secret upon conception.
knowledge is discoverable, and cant be stopped, only access to the tools of production can be stopped.
that is why you CANT stop motivated persons from making independent discovery, you have to prevent your adversary from knowing what you do/dont know, and what you are/are not doing.