At 49, Branden Spikes isn’t just one of the oldest technologists who has been involved in Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As the current director of information technology at X/Twitter and an early hire at PayPal, Zip2, Tesla and SpaceX, Spikes is also among Musk’s most loyal employees. Here’s a closer look at this trusted Musk lieutenant, whose Russian ex-wife was once married to Elon’s cousin.
The profile of Branden Spikes on X.
When President Trump took office again in January, he put the world’s richest man — Elon Musk — in charge of the U.S. Digital Service, and renamed the organization as DOGE. The group is reportedly staffed by at least 50 technologists, many of whom have ties to Musk’s companies.
DOGE has been enabling the president’s ongoing mass layoffs and firings of federal workers, largely by seizing control over computer systems and government data for a multitude of federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Treasury Department.
It is difficult to find another person connected to DOGE who has stronger ties to Musk than Branden Spikes. A native of California, Spikes initially teamed up with Musk in 1997 as a lead systems engineer for the software company Zip2, the first major venture for Musk. In 1999, Spikes was hired as director of IT at PayPal, and in 2002 he became just the fourth person hired at SpaceX.
In 2012, Spikes launched Spikes Security, a software product that sought to create a compartmentalized or “sandboxed” web browser that could insulate the user from malware attacks. A review of spikes.com in the Wayback Machine shows that as far back as 1998, Musk could be seen joining Spikes for team matches in the online games Quake and Quake II. In 2016, Spikes Security was merged with another security suite called Aurionpro, with the combined company renamed Cyberinc.
A snapshot of spikes.com from 1998 shows Elon Musk’s profile in Spike’s clan for the games Quake and Quake II.
Spikes’s LinkedIn profile says he was appointed head of IT at X in February 2025. And although his name shows up on none of the lists of DOGE employees circulated by various media outlets, multiple sources told KrebsOnSecurity that Spikes was working with DOGE and operates within Musk’s inner circle of trust.
In a conversation with KrebsOnSecurity, Spikes said he is dedicated to his country and to saving it from what he sees as certain ruin.
“Myself, I was raised by a southern conservative family in California and I strongly believe in America and her future,” Spikes said. “This is why I volunteered for two months in DC recently to help DOGE save us from certain bankruptcy.”
Spikes told KrebsOnSecurity that he recently decided to head back home and focus on his job as director of IT at X.
“I loved it, but ultimately I did not want to leave my hometown and family back in California,” Spikes said of his tenure at DOGE. “After a couple of months it became clear that to continue helping I would need to move to DC and commit a lot more time, so I politely bowed out.”
Prior to founding Spikes Security, Branden Spikes was married to a native Russian woman named Natalia whom he’d met at a destination wedding in South America in 2003.
Branden and Natalia’s names are both on the registration records for the domain name orangetearoom[.]com. This domain, which DomainTools.com says was originally registered by Branden in 2009, is the home of a tax-exempt charity in Los Angeles called the California Russian Association.
Here is a photo from a 2011 event organized by the California Russian Association, showing Branden and Natalia at one of its “White Nights” charity fundraisers:
Branden and Natalia Spikes, on left, in 2011. The man on the far right is Ivan Y. Podvalov, a board member of the Kremlin-aligned Congress of Russian Americans (CRA). The man in the center is Feodor Yakimoff, director of operations at the Transib Global Sourcing Group, and chairman of the Russian Imperial Charity Balls, which works in concert with the Russian Heritage Foundation.
In 2011, the Spikes couple got divorced, and Natalia changed her last name to Haldeman. That is not her maiden name, which appears to be “Libina.” Rather, Natalia acquired the surname Haldeman in 1998, when she married Elon Musk’s cousin.
Reeve Haldeman is the son of Scott Haldeman, who is the brother of Elon Musk’s mother, Maye Musk. Divorce records show Reeve and Natalia officially terminated their marriage in 2007. Reeve Haldeman did not respond to a request for comment.
A review of other domain names connected to Natalia Haldeman’s email address show she has registered more than a dozen domains over the years that are tied to the California Russian Association, and an apparently related entity called the Russian Heritage Foundation, 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 did not respond to requests for comment. Her name and contact information appears in the registration records for these domains dating back to 2010, and a document published by ProPublica show that by 2016 Natalia Haldeman was appointed CEO of the California Russian Foundation.
The domain name that bears both Branden’s and Natalia’s names — orangetearoom.com — features photos of Ms. Haldeman at fundraising events for the Russian foundation through 2014. Additional photos of her and many of the same people can be seen through 2023 at another domain she registered in 2010 — russianheritagefoundation.com.
A photo from Natalia Haldeman’s Facebook page shows her mother (left) pictured with Maye Musk, Elon Musk’s mother, in 2022.
The photo of Branden and Natalia above is from one such event in 2011 (tied to russianwhitenights.org, another Haldeman domain). The person on the right in that image — Ivan Y. Podvalov — appears in many fundraising event photos published by the foundation over the past decade. Podvalov is a board member of the Congress of Russian Americans (CRA), a nonprofit group that is known for vehemently opposing U.S. financial and legal sanctions against Russia.
Writing for The Insider in 2022, journalist Diana Fishman described how the CRA has engaged in outright political lobbying, noting that the organization in June 2014 sent a letter to President Obama and the secretary of the United Nations, calling for an end to the “large-scale US intervention in Ukraine and the campaign to isolate Russia.”
“The US military contingents must be withdrawn immediately from the Eastern European region, and NATO’s enlargement efforts and provocative actions against Russia must cease,” the message read.
The Insider said the CRA director sent another two letters, this time to President Donald Trump, in 2017 and 2018.
“One was a request not to sign a law expanding sanctions against Russia,” Fishman wrote. “The other regretted the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats from the United States and urged not to jump to conclusions on Moscow’s involvement in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.”
The nonprofit tracking website CauseIQ.com reports that The Russian Heritage Foundation, Inc. is now known as Constellation of Humanity.
The Russian Heritage Foundation and the California Russian Association both promote the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church. This page indexed by Archive.org from russiancalifornia.org shows The California Russian Foundation organized a community effort to establish an Orthodox church in Orange County, Calif.
A press release from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) shows that in 2021 the Russian Heritage Foundation donated money to organize a conference for the Russian Orthodox Church in Serbia.
A review of the “Partners” listed on the Spikes’ jointly registered domain — orangetearoom.com — shows the organization worked with a marketing company called Russian American Media. Reporting by KrebsOnSecurity last year showed that Russian American Media also partners with the problematic people-search service Radaris, which was formed by two native Russian brothers in Massachusetts who have built a fleet of consumer data brokers and Russian affiliate programs.
When asked about his ex-wife’s history, Spikes said she has a good heart and bears no ill-will toward anyone.
“I attended several of Natalia’s social events over the years we were together and can assure you that she’s got the best intentions with those,” Spikes told KrebsOnSecurity. “There’s no funny business going on. It is just a way for those friendly immigrants to find resources amongst each other to help get settled in and chase the American dream. I mean, they’re not unlike the immigrants from other countries who come to America and try to find each other and help each other find others who speak the language and share in the building of their businesses here in America.”
Spikes said his own family roots go back deeply into American history, sharing that his 6th great grandfather was Alexander Hamilton on his mom’s side, and Jessie James on his dad’s side.
“My family roots are about as American as you can get,” he said. “I’ve also been entrusted with building and safeguarding Elon’s companies since 1999 and have a keen eye (as you do) for bad actors, so have enough perspective to tell you that Natalia has no bad blood and that she loves America.”
Of course, this perspective comes from someone who has the utmost regard for the interests of the “special government employee” Mr. Musk, who has been bragging about tossing entire federal agencies into the “wood chipper,” and who recently wielded an actual chainsaw on stage while referring to it as the “chainsaw for bureaucracy.”
“Elon’s intentions are good and you can trust him,” Spikes assured.
A special note of thanks for research assistance goes to Jacqueline Sweet, an independent investigative journalist whose work has been published in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, POLITICO and The Intercept.
Could you clarify what you mean by “seizing control over computer systems”, from a technical aspect? Is it more than getting login credentials? admin credentials? Are they changing system parameters, etc.? Are they blocking/removing those who were previously controlling the systems?
Do you not see a problem with these guys having root access to our key systems? Several of them have ties to russia, and i think it’s pretty obvious where trump, musk, vance, kash pattel, and tulsi gabbard get their bread buttered. This is not normal and it’s very likely our nations key secrets are no longer secret. Also I would suspect that back doors are being installed. Also how do you feel about your social security money?
you’re some really dumb fk! your money 300 bucks in your chase account.. and your ssn that was leaked 1000s of times on the dark web. Fkin nitwit
They have all of those powers, however they end up using them on individual systems varies.
Hes being dramatic and they do not have root access and they have not siezed access they have been granted access… its called “Russel Conjugation” or “emotive conjugation”. Hes using over the top words to describe a situation he doesnt agree with.
It sounds like you are assuming that they have the best of intentions, something which is not at all evident.
“Podvalov is a board member of the Congress of Russian Americans (CRA), a nonprofit group that is known for vehemently opposing U.S. financial and legal sanctions against Russia.
Writing for The Insider in 2022, journalist Diana Fishman described how the CRA has engaged in outright political lobbying, noting that the organization in June 2014 sent a letter to President Obama and the secretary of the United Nations, calling for an end to the “large-scale US intervention in Ukraine and the campaign to isolate Russia.”
Justifiably so in both cases. The US has been pushing Ukraine to fight Russia since after WWII, and especially since Ukraine split from the Soviet Union, and even more so leading up to the 2014 Maidan crisis. The Ukrainians, especially western Ukrainian nationalists, have been stupid enough to follow the US’ lead – which has now resulted in over a million, probably a million and a half, Ukrainian casualties, the reduction of Ukraine’s population by emgration by twenty million, the annihilation of the Ukraine economy (which the US taxpayer is now paying for – or was until Trump supposedly stopped that recently), and has enabled Russia to expand its military by almost 100% and force it to develop missile technologies for which the US and NATO have ZERO capability to deal with. Not mention the Russian economy, stimulated to cut off the West by Western sanctions, is going great guns, better than any European country.
So now we’re bitching about Russian immigrants, are we? Trust me, damn few Russians want to come to the US now, but quite a few Western country citizens are emigrating to Russia.
Who cares who this guy Spikes is? It’s the moron Musk that is the technocrat threat to democracy along with the utter moron Trump.
@Brian: Thank you for meticulously digging out less known facts.
@Richard: Please get some serious history education to correct your flawed narratives. The current leadership of the Russian Federation is a revisionist imperialistic bunch of ex-KGB guys grabbing power together with organized crime elements from St. Petersburg and willing oligarchs. They want to recreate a sphere of influence like that ceded half of Europe to Stalin at the Yalta Conference. For good reasons former Warsaw Pacts countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria joined NATO to be never subjugated to Soviet oppression again. The same is true since 2014 for Ukraine. To say that the US initiated Ukraine to fight against Russia is since WW II is blatantly wrong and result of (unfortunately very good) Russian propaganda. A police dictatorship like Russia could never tolerate a democratic free country beside it’s borders as this imperils a dictator like Putin, not to forget the important industrial assets of Ukraine to be secured for Russia.
Apart from the last sentence, the rest of your rant is a load of tripe and hardly deserves a response; but i’ll bite.
‘US has been pushing Ukraine to fight Russia since after WWII’
Don’t flatter yourself. Ukraine has been fighting Russia for self determination long before the mighty USA was even a country. Think: Kievan Rus’ and Mongol Invasions, the Cossack Wars, 19th-Century Repression and National Awakening and the Ukrainian War of Independence; all before WWII, which renders your whole discourse moot.
‘probably a million and a half, Ukrainian casualties,’
Bollocks. Zelensky reported that approximately 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the invasion’s onset. Other sources have suggested higher figures, with some reports indicating up to 400,000 military casualties (killed and wounded);
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/death-toll-latest-war-kqb8xwrqc
This is all speculation of course, but I’d be curious what the Kremlin is reporting Russian casualties as?
‘reduction of Ukraine’s population by emgration by twenty million’
More bollocks. 6 million at most, mainly women and children, most gainfully employed by their host countries;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_refugee_crisis
What about Russian emigration then? Reports indicating numbers as high as 1.3 million.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
This mass exodus includes a significant portion of young, educated professionals, leading to concerns about a “brain drain” and potential long-term demographic challenges for Russia. Mmmmm.
‘and force it to develop missile technologies for which the US and NATO have ZERO capability to deal with.’
Despite the fact that the Ukrainians have taken land, sea and air drone warfare to a level never seen before by any military globally EVER!! And have used this technology to inflict exponentially more damage on Russian assets than ‘hYpErsONicS’ ever will, at a FRACTION of the cost.
‘Not mention the Russian economy, …. , is going great guns, better than any European country.’
If the war stops TODAY, the Russian economy will collapse and its society with it. But of course, the Oligarchs will be OK.
If you don’t believe me, here are 2 Russian sources;
https://theins.ru/en/economics/277728
https://theins.ru/en/economics/277585
‘but quite a few Western country citizens are emigrating to Russia.’
I very much doubt it. Sources would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath. 😉
Stupid everyone else, except Russia is the one who invaded Ukraine. Nice story comrade.
Enjoy your move back to the motherland, d’strovia.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War
Why not look things up before you try to implausibly make them up? Would it kill you?
According to NATO and Western military officials, around 1,200 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in Ukraine every day on average in May and June 2024.[119][120] In July 2024, Chief of the General Staff of the British Army Sir Roland Walker said that with the current way of fighting, it would take Russia five years to control the four regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia that Russia claims as its own, and it would cost Russia from 1.5 to 1.8 million casualties.[121] He said there are “no winners” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, adding that “it is an utter devastation for both sides and lost generations.”[122] By August 2024, the daily average of Russian military casualties in the conflict was about 1,000 soldiers, according to a Western official.
Russia is small potatoes…. GDP is lower than Canada… 1/2 of Germany… etc.. etc.. but it sounds like Rich is arguing that US sanctions have helped their economy go “great guns”. I guess there’s no problem then. Become a barracks nation if ya like. Ain’t the west’s problem. Twas a BIG mistake to invade. Once they’re plan to take Kyiv quickly and make a regime change happen failed, they should have aborted the mission. Trump’s action often align with Russia’s so it’s worth looking into any ties to Russian organizations in the US. Everything that Trump does in regards to Ukraine seems to suggest one of his puppet-masters is Putin.
also worth considering is Musk’s connection to the war via Starlink: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_in_the_Russian-Ukrainian_War Interesting bits include USAID, Department of Defense, the Pentagon, etc…
Thank you for the deep research – I hope this story gets coverage. Scary times.
“sharing that his 6th great grandfather was Alexander Hamilton on his mom’s side, and Jessie James on his dad’s side”
I would love to find out that that was incredibly invented. But you never know in America.
Wow – just wow. It doesn’t matter which way you look, the swamp got a whole lot murkier.
Thanks Brian. And to J. Sweet as well. Let it be known Branden better keep his delicate little tuxedoed pinkies off of our personal information (our personal property) held in trust at SSA and IRS. Appropriating that is unconstitutional.
What are you trying to say with this article?
Please focus on security, not this crap
Please focus on starting your own blog, not this crap ultimatum.
Don’t read if you don’t like.
Krebs is writing about Security (capital S) here, the Security of our country, which is being compromised by the current “administration.”
Hysteria. Take a look in the miirror: Just look at what the USA does in (rather to) other countries …..
Brian – can you just stick to the knitting – i.e the technical stuff is great
Thanks
Start your own blog, one that you dictate to.
> *for those friendly immigrants*
“Ahh Mikhail, those pindosy are falling for it again and again”
*tin*
“Na zdrovye!” “Zdarova!” – laughing and coughing with bits of spit
Thanks for focusing on the most important security threat to the USA. Congratulations to you and Jacqueline investigation. I found your reporting in the (When asked about his ex-wife’s history) section to be the most interesting. It reminded me of phrase, “Nothing to see here.”
BTW, http://orangeteamroom.com/ Homepage, states, “This site can’t be reached”
Each denial created a full catalog of goals for “Opposite Intentions Day”.
It’s a question of velocity Brian. Will we gain enough clarity before the USA is crushed?
Sorry. That was a typo. It’s supposed to be orangetearoom dot com.
Thanks for the replacement URL Brian.
This is somewhat giving cold war witch hunt. Interesting read, and I certainly will never trust Musk, but the entire Natalia bit seems unproblematic
Great report Brian. Safe to say that Space X secrets are safe in the Kremlin by now. I noticed this quote: ” …..so I politely bowed out.” This sounds like his security clearance was pulled.
Two questions, I’m trying to follow along, it sounds like you are implying muskrat and his friends have relations with Russian spies that posed as personal relationship seekers and have corrupted them into Russian spies accessing US government secrets?
You mentioned those two played Q2 and Q3, but didn’t mention their game names. I would like to know, I used to be big into those, wondering if I played against them.
I personally see musk as an egomaniac surrounded by yes men, but to rich to be bribed by RU. Watching for your mind map of the corruption.
Thanks,
‘Watching for your mind map of the corruption.’
Brian, I second this.
“…who recently wielded an actual chainsaw on stage while referring to it as the “chainsaw for bureaucracy.”
Too bad he didn’t drop it on his head. Would have solved a lot of problems.
I am not sure you’ll be proud of this article in a few years. Unless, of course, you have information related to Spikes that you have chose to withhold at the present.
I agree with Daniel in the comments. This doesn’t seem like very useful information.
Appreciate that this isn’t a sensationalized approach, but the ties mentioned here don’t seem particularly strong.
Lately the articles from Krebs seem to be of a different flavor than historically.
Maybe I missed the hit pieces on all the Chinese ties to the Biden syndicate – truly, I may have – but this piece has no useful information in it. I used to come to this site for technical news and awareness but it appears Brian is heading a different direction – which is perfectly fine and his right to do. I’ll head elsewhere for technical news.
I wish you all the best in your new field, Brian. Thank you for several years of excellent IT/IS coverage and I appreciate your work.
Maybe because there were none?
Once again the meritocracy proclaimed by the billionaire elitist oligarchs is nothing more than thinly veiled cronyism.
What has this guy done to prove his knowledge, skills, and abilities plus the work effort he puts in?
Wait, wrong question, avert your eyes and don’t question power. Look here’s some federal worker making $30K who took a 10 minute bathroom break, THERE’S your deep state societal rot!
Rather average looking guy with a high profile in a tech company meets and marries a woman who appears looks wise to be out of his league at destination wedding. TOTALLY random meeting, I’m sure.
This is something out of Spycraft 001.
Sexy bug is best bug.
Americans have voted in Russian hand puppets. Great.
So we’re down to gossip and implying what, a political relationship with Russia because of a Russian ex-lover? Can we get back to cybersecurity?
This seems to be Elon’s lap dog.
Brian another exceptional piece of journalistic ore. Your consistent work product is the rarest earth metals of the techno-pundits. Hard to find & intentionally opaque your lite shines. Some can barely grok. Thank you for your work!
Who is the blonde woman standing between Podvalov and Yakimoff?
Karma will catch up to all of MAGA don’t worry. Now the second I read anything religion then your credibility is gone. All religion since the the first man CREATED it was for control and obedience and never thinking for yourself or question everything which is how I live my life 24/7 so I am MAGA ‘s arch enemy and love it.
Is KoS now becoming a People Magazine of IT guys? Is this guy some kind of hacker miscreant? Or does he somehow bother the author personally? When do we get the article on the NSA guys chatting about kinky sex?
Trump is KGB
Gee, first the Israelis(Jewish lobby), now the Russians, seems like we’re just owned by everybody, but then we are a nation of immigrants( regards to the real Native Americans). Poor America, and some actually claim that we own the world. LOL
Well that was an incredible leap of logic. No different from how conspiracy theorists operate.