It was already set to be a key priority for the incoming Trump administration. But Threat Status has a new look at just how vulnerable America’s critical infrastructure is to cyberattacks and other assaults from adversaries such as China or Russia. National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz reports that those two nations have already penetrated critical private-sector U.S. infrastructure networks and plan to attack them in a future war.

The U.S. military, however, is ill-prepared for the kind of attacks that a task force of experts believes could cause “potentially severe” delays and disruptions in combat. That’s one reason why the military is at risk of losing a future great-power war, according to a major report from the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board.

The full report is here, and it includes a list of immediate actions that the Trump administration ought to take, including stepped-up ties between military commanders and civilian infrastructure owners; bringing private sector infrastructure owners and operators into war games and exercises; and developing plans for responding to disruptions in wartime.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has once again found himself at the center of one of the biggest, most consequential stories in America. The Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday, just hours after the New Orleans terrorist attack, has left investigators scrambling to find a motive and to determine whether a broader, coordinated extremist assault may be unfolding.

The incident is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism. Law enforcement officials said Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Army veteran from Colorado Springs, rented the truck in his home state and drove to Nevada to carry out the explosion that killed himself and injured seven bystanders. Police said all the bystanders are expected to survive from the explosion, which included firework mortars and camp fuel canisters.

Officials acknowledged the potential connections between the use of a Tesla vehicle to target a hotel bearing the president-elect’s name, though as of Thursday morning, there were still more questions than answers about Livelsberger’s motivations.

Authorities also thanked Mr. Musk for his assistance in the investigation. And the Silicon Valley titan used the opportunity to once again slam the mainstream media, dubbing The Associated Press the “Associated Propaganda” for its initial report that the Tesla vehicle caught fire outside of the Las Vegas hotel. 

Mr. Musk has more than a global profile and an unlimited checkbook. He also may come with his own political agenda, one that ultimately may clash with that of President-elect Donald Trump.

That’s the argument from Threat Status columnist Michael McKenna, who writes in a new piece that the president-elect may be walking into a trap with his empowerment of Mr. Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, a former GOP presidential hopeful who, along with Mr. Musk, is expected to lead Mr. Trump’s unofficial “Department of Government Efficiency.”

“The president-elect has, intentionally or otherwise, created an environment in which those who identify as his allies may pose greater challenges than his adversaries,” Mr. McKenna writes. “It is difficult to pinpoint why Mr. Musk has attached himself to the new administration. Perhaps it is to preserve and expand his advantages with respect to space exploration. Perhaps it is about protecting his investments in China. Perhaps it is something we cannot yet see. We can, however, say with some confidence that the world’s richest man wants something. Mr. Ramaswamy’s agenda is much less opaque: He wants to be president.”

It’s clear that Mr. Musk has inserted himself in seemingly all major social and political conversations both in the U.S. and around the world. But there is growing speculation that he may be using a fake name and voice changer to defend himself online.

Over the past week, an X user named Adrian Dittmann has vocally backed Mr. Musk as he debates conservatives on the social media platform over his support for hiring skilled foreign workers. But some users say Adrian Dittmann is just a “burner account” for the X owner, with the user’s voices sounding similar.

Users circulated several clips from X Spaces held over the past week where Mr. Dittmann criticizes Mr. Musk’s opponents, saying he’s the only one giving the “crackheads” a voice. Mr. Dittmann’s voice does share some of the same vocal signifiers as Mr. Musk, leading some users to believe that the tech billionaire uses voice-changing software to become Adrian Dittmann. 

• Jan. 6 — NVIDIA CEO keynote at CES, NVIDIA

• Jan. 7 — The Hidden Costs: Transparency and the U.S. Arms Trade, Stimson Center

• Jan. 7-10 — CES 2025, Consumer Technology Association

• Jan. 14 — Coffee & Conversation with NCSC Director, Intelligence and National Security Alliance

• Jan. 23 — 2025 Defense R&D Summit, Potomac Officers Club