At 49, Branden Spikes isn’t simply one of many oldest technologists who has been concerned in Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE). As the present director of knowledge expertise at X/Twitter and an early rent at PayPal, Zip2, Tesla and SpaceX, Spikes can also be amongst Musk’s most loyal staff. Right here’s a more in-depth take a look at this trusted Musk lieutenant, whose Russian ex-wife was as soon as married to Elon’s cousin.
The profile of Branden Spikes on X.
When President Trump took workplace once more in January, he put the world’s richest man — Elon Musk — in control of the U.S. Digital Service, and renamed the group as DOGE. The group is reportedly staffed by not less than 50 technologists, lots of whom have ties to Musk’s firms.
DOGE has been enabling the president’s ongoing mass layoffs and firings of federal staff, largely by seizing management over pc techniques and authorities knowledge for a mess of federal businesses, together with the Social Safety Administration, the Division of Homeland Safety, the Workplace of Personnel Administration, and the Treasury Division.
It’s troublesome to search out one other individual related to DOGE who has stronger ties to Musk than Branden Spikes. A local of California, Spikes initially teamed up with Musk in 1997 as a lead techniques engineer for the software program firm Zip2, the primary main enterprise for Musk. In 1999, Spikes was employed as director of IT at PayPal, and in 2002 he turned simply the fourth individual employed at SpaceX.
In 2012, Spikes launched Spikes Safety, a software program product that sought to create a compartmentalized or “sandboxed” internet browser that would insulate the consumer from malware assaults. A evaluate of spikes.com within the Wayback Machine reveals that way back to 1998, Musk could possibly be seen becoming a member of Spikes for workforce matches within the on-line video games Quake and Quake II. In 2016, Spikes Safety was merged with one other safety suite known as Aurionpro, with the mixed firm renamed Cyberinc.
A snapshot of spikes.com from 1998 reveals Elon Musk’s profile in Spike’s clan for the video games Quake and Quake II.
Spikes’s LinkedIn profile says he was appointed head of IT at X in February 2025. And though his identify reveals up on not one of the lists of DOGE staff circulated by varied media retailers, a number of sources advised KrebsOnSecurity that Spikes was working with DOGE and operates inside Musk’s inside circle of belief.
In a dialog with KrebsOnSecurity, Spikes stated he’s devoted to his nation and to saving it from what he sees as sure break.
“Myself, I used to be raised by a southern conservative household in California and I strongly consider in America and her future,” Spikes stated. “For this reason I volunteered for 2 months in DC not too long ago to assist DOGE save us from sure chapter.”
Spikes advised KrebsOnSecurity that he not too long ago determined to go again residence and concentrate on his job as director of IT at X.
“I liked it, however finally I didn’t need to depart my hometown and household again in California,” Spikes stated of his tenure at DOGE. “After a few months it turned clear that to proceed serving to I would want to maneuver to DC and commit much more time, so I politely bowed out.”
Previous to founding Spikes Safety, Branden Spikes was married to a local Russian lady named Natalia whom he’d met at a vacation spot wedding ceremony in South America in 2003.
Branden and Natalia’s names are each on the registration information for the area identify orangetearoom[.]com. This area, which DomainTools.com says was initially registered by Branden in 2009, is the house of a tax-exempt charity in Los Angeles known as the California Russian Affiliation.
Right here is a photograph from a 2011 occasion organized by the California Russian Affiliation, displaying Branden and Natalia at one in all its “White Nights” charity fundraisers:
Branden and Natalia Spikes, on left, in 2011. The person on the far proper is Ivan Y. Podvalov, a board member of the Kremlin-aligned Congress of Russian People (CRA). The person within the middle is Feodor Yakimoff, director of operations on the Transib International Sourcing Group, and chairman of the Russian Imperial Charity Balls, which works in live performance with the Russian Heritage Basis.
In 2011, the Spikes couple obtained divorced, and Natalia modified her final identify to Haldeman. That’s not her maiden identify, which seems to be “Libina.” Quite, Natalia acquired the surname Haldeman in 1998, when she married Elon Musk’s cousin.
Reeve Haldeman is the son of Scott Haldeman, who’s the brother of Elon Musk’s mom, Maye Musk. Divorce information present Reeve and Natalia formally terminated their marriage in 2007. Reeve Haldeman didn’t reply to a request for remark.
A evaluate of different domains related to Natalia Haldeman’s electronic mail tackle present she has registered greater than a dozen domains over time which are tied to the California Russian Affiliation, and an apparently associated entity known as the Russian Heritage Basis, Inc.:
russianamericans.org
russianamericanstoday.com
russianamericanstoday.org
russiancalifornia.org
russianheritagefoundation.com
russianheritagefoundation.org
russianwhitenights.com
russianwhitenights.org
theforafoundation.org
thegoldentearoom.com
therussianheritagefoundation.org
tsarinahome.com
Ms. Haldeman didn’t reply to requests for remark. Her identify and get in touch with info seems within the registration information for these domains courting again to 2010, and a doc printed by ProPublica present that by 2016 Natalia Haldeman was appointed CEO of the California Russian Basis.
The area identify that bears each Branden’s and Natalia’s names — orangeteamroom.com — options photographs of Ms. Haldeman at fundraising occasions for the Russian basis by 2014. Further photographs of her and lots of the identical individuals might be seen by 2023 at one other area she registered in 2010 — russianheritagefoundation.com.
A photograph from Natalia Haldeman’s Fb web page reveals her mom (left) pictured with Maye Musk, Elon Musk’s mom, in 2022.
The picture of Branden and Natalia above is from one such occasion in 2011 (tied to russianwhitenights.org, one other Haldeman area). The individual on the appropriate in that picture — Ivan Y. Podvalov — seems in lots of fundraising occasion photographs printed by the muse over the previous decade. Podvalov is a board member of the Congress of Russian People (CRA), a nonprofit group that’s identified for vehemently opposing U.S. monetary and authorized sanctions in opposition to Russia.
Writing for The Insider in 2022, journalist Diana Fishman described how the CRA has engaged in outright political lobbying, noting that the group in June 2014 despatched a letter to President Obama and the secretary of the United Nations, calling for an finish to the “large-scale US intervention in Ukraine and the marketing campaign to isolate Russia.”
“The US navy contingents have to be withdrawn instantly from the Japanese European area, and NATO’s enlargement efforts and provocative actions in opposition to Russia should stop,” the message learn.
The Insider stated the CRA director despatched one other two letters, this time to President Donald Trump, in 2017 and 2018.
“One was a request to not signal a legislation increasing sanctions in opposition to Russia,” Fishman wrote. “The opposite regretted the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats from the USA and urged to not soar to conclusions on Moscow’s involvement within the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.”
The nonprofit monitoring web site CauseIQ.com studies that The Russian Heritage Basis, Inc. is now often called Constellation of Humanity.
The Russian Heritage Basis and the California Russian Affiliation each promote the pursuits of the Russian Orthodox Church. This web page listed by Archive.org from russiancalifornia.org reveals The California Russian Basis organized a group effort to ascertain an Orthodox church in Orange County, Calif.
A press launch from the Russian Orthodox Church Exterior of Russia (ROCOR) reveals that in 2021 the Russian Heritage Basis donated cash to arrange a convention for the Russian Orthodox Church in Serbia.
A evaluate of the “Companions” listed on the Spikes’ collectively registered area — orangetearoom.com — reveals the group labored with a advertising firm known as Russian American Media. Reporting by KrebsOnSecurity final 12 months confirmed that Russian American Media additionally companions with the problematic people-search service Radaris, which was shaped by two native Russian brothers in Massachusetts who’ve constructed a fleet of shopper knowledge brokers and Russian affiliate applications.
When requested about his ex-wife’s historical past, Spikes stated she has coronary heart and bears no ill-will towards anybody.
“I attended a number of of Natalia’s social occasions over time we have been collectively and might guarantee you that she’s obtained the perfect intentions with these,” Spikes advised KrebsOnSecurity. “There’s no humorous enterprise happening. It’s only a manner for these pleasant immigrants to search out assets amongst one another to assist get settled in and chase the American dream. I imply, they’re not not like the immigrants from different nations who come to America and attempt to discover one another and assist one another discover others who converse the language and share within the constructing of their companies right here in America.”
Spikes stated his circle of relatives roots return deeply into American historical past, sharing that his sixth nice grandfather was Alexander Hamilton on his mother’s facet, and Jessie James on his dad’s facet.
“My household roots are about as American as you may get,” he stated. “I’ve additionally been entrusted with constructing and safeguarding Elon’s firms since 1999 and have a eager eye (as you do) for dangerous actors, so have sufficient perspective to inform you that Natalia has no dangerous blood and that she loves America.”
In fact, this attitude comes from somebody who has the utmost regard for the pursuits of the “particular authorities worker” Mr. Musk, who has been bragging about tossing total federal businesses into the “wooden chipper,” and who not too long ago wielded an precise chainsaw on stage whereas referring to it because the “chainsaw for paperwork.”
“Elon’s intentions are good and you may belief him,” Spikes assured.
A particular be aware of thanks for analysis help goes to Jacqueline Candy, an impartial investigative journalist whose work has been printed in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, POLITICO and The Intercept.
