Bill Gates Held DOE ‘Q’ Clearance for Seven Years Amid COVID-19 Probe

Microsoft co‑founder Bill Gates was granted a Department of Energy (DOE) “Q” security clearance, the agency’s highest classification, from June 2014 until December 2021. The clearance, typically reserved for work on nuclear weapons, national labs and critical energy infrastructure, was issued reciprocally from another federal agency, which the DOE letter does not identify. The existence of the clearance was revealed in a letter entered into the Congressional Record by Sen. Rand Paul during a Senate hearing in which Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times.

The clearance overlapped the Obama administration and the entire COVID‑19 pandemic period, prompting questions about its purpose. One possible link is Gates’s role as founder and chair of TerraPower, an advanced nuclear reactor company that collaborates with DOE laboratories. No agency has explained why a private citizen received access to Restricted Data under the Atomic Energy Act, and both the DOE and the Gates Foundation have not responded to inquiries.