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musk has a large security team protecting him

phoenix technology xiao yu

core tips:

1. as musk became richer and more famous, he began to strengthen his personal security protection.

2. musk is accompanied by up to 20 security professionals when traveling, who study escape routes and clean rooms in advance.

3. in the first two months of this year, tesla's security costs on musk were more than five times that of 2019.

4. musk said, "dangerous times are coming."

last november, the day before elon musk held a cybertruck pickup truck delivery ceremony and gave a speech, florida man paul overeem was arrested near tesla's austin, texas factory. us police accused overeem of planning a "mass casualty event" there.

the incident later made headlines. however, few people paid attention to what happened at the delivery event.

tesla security was alerted to overim’s threat and went all-in, according to two people briefed on the arrangements and documents reviewed by the new york times. the invite list was carefully curated, and each guest was screened in advance. when musk took the stage, more than three dozen tesla security personnel were stationed in the room, along with bodyguards from his private security firm, foundation security. musk is a fan of isaac asimov’s science fiction novel “foundation.”

people are afraid of being famous

musk, 53, has long cultivated a fearless image, traveling the world, rubbing shoulders with business tycoons, world leaders and celebrities, and smoking marijuana in public. but in private, as he has become richer, more famous and more outspoken, and as threats against him have escalated, he has increasingly shielded himself behind an army of armed bodyguards.

police documents and tesla's internal records show that musk, the world's richest man with a net worth of more than $240 billion, once fielded largely harmless calls and messages from ardent fans but now routinely deals with stalkers and death threats. while many high-profile figures face threats, musk has adapted his protection in recent years to cope with the change, upgrading his already robust personal security to levels that other billionaires can only dream of.

the texas factory where the cybertruck delivery ceremony was held

tesla's internal documents show thatmusk and his companies tesla and spacex spend millions of dollars each year on his security measuresto further control his protection, musk founded the private security firm base security, according to documents and security experts.

small secret service

security experts point out thatmusk's security team is now like a small us secret servicemusk, who once had two bodyguards, now travels with up to 20 security professionals who study escape routes and clear rooms before musk enters. they often carry guns and have a medical professional with him.his security team codenamed him "voyager."

three people close to musk said the security threats made him more fearful and his lifestyle more isolated. musk was rarely without bodyguards, according to a 2023 lawsuit filed by former x employees over severance pay.even when x went to the toilet, he was accompanied by a bodyguard.at times, he exaggerated the severity of threats, including once falsely claiming that two people charged in separate incidents were carrying guns.

in june, musk said at tesla's annual shareholder meeting that the threats against him were becoming increasingly insane. "the probability of a mass murderer trying to kill you is proportional to the number of mass murderers who hear your name," he said at the time. "so, they hear my name so often that i'm like, 'ok, i'm on the list,' you know." he added that this forced him to distance himself from the public even more.

musk's current lifestyle is different from other super-rich people. warren e. buffett, who is worth more than $145 billion, has hired only one personal bodyguard for many years. it is unclear how many bodyguards buffett has now, and his spokesman said that berkshire hathaway has hired multiple security companies. former x ceo jack dorsey often walked for miles through san francisco without bodyguards.

security costs surge

this year, tesla disclosed in a filing for the first time that the companyin 2023, it paid $2.4 million for some of musk's protections.according to tesla's filing, the company$500,000 was paid out in the first two months of 2024, more than five times the average spending in two months in 2019.invoices and receipts reviewed by the new york times show that from 2015 to 2018,musk's monthly security expenses average $145,000.

in contrast,apple spent $820,000 last year protecting ceo tim cook，amazon spends $1.6 million a year to protect founder jeff bezosmeta is one of the few companies that spends more. the company last year paid its ceo$23.4 million allocated for mark zuckerberg's security costs.

the new york times compiled the details of musk's security, which have not been previously reported and do not include details of musk's specific location, based on hundreds of pages of tesla documents, police and local government documents obtained through public records requests, state records from musk's security firm, recordings, court documents and securities and exchange commission filings.

musk's bodyguards

the tesla documents come from a trove of records and data obtained by handelsblatt from former tesla employee lukasz krupski. people close to musk requested anonymity to avoid losing their jobs or damaging their relationships with musk and tesla.

musk, his attorneys and representatives for tesla and spacex did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.

musk once did what he pleased, leaving his keys in his car and not needing bodyguards, according to people close to him. but as his profile grew, tesla’s board asked him to accept personal security, according to some of the people and documents reviewed by the new york times.

by 2014, musk was surrounded by bodyguards from the security firm gdba, which was run by gavin de becker, who parlayed his experience as an assistant to elizabeth taylor and at the justice department into a career protecting celebrities and investigating targets for high-profile clients, including bezos and cher.

when musk travels, he is accompanied wherever he goes by a rotating cast of bodyguards from the gdba, most of whom have military experience.

bodyguard running errands

the security services often cost six figures a month. in january 2016, when musk visited mexico, hong kong, london, paris, israel and texas, de becker earned $163,674.59, according to the filing. the costs were split between spacex, tesla and musk.

bodyguards frequently ran errands for musk and paid for him to minimize his time in public. they washed his car, picked up dry cleaning and once tipped a bartender in london $80 to keep the bar open longer. they also bought mexican hats and fireworks for a new year's eve celebration in puerto vallarta, mexico in 2015 and paid a $22,445.72 hotel bill for musk's family and employees at a luxury hotel in hong kong in january 2016.

gdba employees also helped musk conduct "threat assessments," with one senior consultant charging more than $400 an hour, according to the documents. they also researched people who were classified as "inappropriate followers."

the company also targeted someone who was reluctant to engage with musk: stu grossman, a senior engineer at a dot-com company who acquired the tesla.com domain before tesla was founded. musk wanted to buy it, but grossman was in no rush to sell.

grossman said he was visited twice at his home in san francisco and once outside a restaurant in 2015 by private investigators who said they were working for musk.

"elon wants you to know that he wants to hear your opinion," said the private investigator who ran into grossman outside the restaurant. he eventually agreed to sell tesla.com to tesla for an undisclosed price.

"nice to meet you"

documents and phone recordings obtained by the new york times show that many of the people who tried to contact musk were harmless. a few years ago, a woman left a two-minute voicemail at one of musk's companies, calling him "daddy musk" and claiming that they had telepathy last year. the "daddy musk" here is somewhat similar to the "papa ma" that jack ma was originally called, showing the woman's admiration for musk.

"i can't wait for you to propose to me on our space station," she said

musk, worth more than $200 billion in 2022, has soared in fame as tesla dominates the electric car market and spacex flies astronauts into space for nasa, heightening his concerns about safety, three people close to him said.

he has also received international threats, including one he posted on x from dmitry rogozin, a russian government official. musk’s posts show that rogozin warned musk that he would be “held accountable” for aiding ukrainian forces in the russo-ukrainian war with starlink satellite internet service.

"if i die mysteriously, it would be nice to know you," musk later posted in response to rogozin.

musk's acquisition of twitter (later renamed x) in october 2022 thrust him further into the spotlight. in december of that year, he banned a college student's account that tracked his private jet, along with 24 other accounts, claiming they were "basically assassination coordinates." however, he later restored some of the accounts.

tesla

musk began to take security into his own hands. in 2016, jared birchall, who manages musk's family office, registered base security in california. the company, which appears to be a clearing house for musk's security expenses, was operated by becker's company and dissolved in february 2022, according to documents.

musk's private foundation also registered a base security in texas, but the registration date is unclear. texas documents show that the company is described as a "private enterprise with internal security personnel." the head of some operations of base security is justin riblet, a former army special forces weapons sergeant who worked at gdba. he declined to comment.

tesla reported for the first time this year that it had an agreement with a security firm owned by musk to "provide security services related to him." the report did not name the company. it is unclear why tesla did not report the expenses earlier because public companies are required to disclose most business relationships with entities owned by their executives.

tesla has its own security division, including an intelligence unit that conducts investigations and the ability to fly drones over facilities and events, two people familiar with the company said.

however, the increased security measures restricted musk's movements. he spent most of his time near the camp at burning man, an annual outdoor arts and music festival in nevada, two people familiar with the matter said.bouncers would clear the venue early, looking for anyone not on the approved list.

increasingly dangerous

the threats against musk appear to be growing. records show that since tesla opened its factory in austin in early 2022, the travis county sheriff's office has handled eight "terrorist threats," at least two of which were directed directly at musk.

by comparison, police have responded to five terrorist threats at tesla's fremont, california, factory in the past decade, according to police records.

court documents from travis county show that overem, a florida man who was arrested in austin in november before arriving at the tesla factory, posted threatening messages in an instagram group chat about the cybertruck event, where musk was scheduled to give a speech.

"if i say i will kill someone then you should take it seriously," he wrote in one message, documents show.

musk and tesla’s security department took the threat seriously and addressed the issue while planning the cybertruck event, two people familiar with the matter said. tesla also notified law enforcement, according to court documents.

a grand jury indicted overem on a felony charge of making terrorist threats. he is free on $200,000 bail, which requires him to stay 200 yards away from musk and shivon zilis, an executive at musk’s company neuralink and the mother of musk’s children.

in another incident in january, former tesla employee justin mccauley, 32, posted on x: "@joebiden @x @tesla @elonmusk i'm going to kill you all."

mccauley's wife, who was in minnesota at the time, called police after he told her he was leaving for texas and would never come back, records show. the travis county sheriff's office tracked mccauley's truck and arrested him near tesla's austin factory in january. he was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of making terrorist threats and was released on bond.

rick cofer, an attorney representing overem and mccauley, said he was not authorized to speak about the cases but that situations typically categorized as criminal or threatening behavior “are often associated with untreated mental health symptoms.”

in july, musk posted on x after the assassination of former president donald j. trump, apparently referencing those events.

"danger times are coming," he wrote. "two people have tried to kill me (on separate occasions) in the past 8 months." he said both had guns, but court documents show that neither overem nor mccauley were armed when they were arrested.

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