# DOJ invokes national security to defend xAI's unpermitted gas turbines in NAACP lawsuit > Source: > Published: 2026-06-16 13:23:33+00:00 # DOJ invokes national security to defend xAI's unpermitted gas turbines in NAACP lawsuit **US Justice Department calls xAI's chatbot Grok essential to military operations, defending its controversial gas turbines.** In a filing to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the NAACP, the Department of Justice argues that the suit "threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations." According to a statement by Cameron Stanley, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer at the Department of Defense, Grok is one of just four AI models that "support mission-critical operations across Secret and Top-Secret classified networks" - including recent [strikes against Iran](https://the-decoder.com/u-s-military-strikes-3000-targets-in-iran-with-ai-support-but-oversight-remains-underinvested/). The NAACP filed suit because xAI, which is part of SpaceX, runs unpermitted gas turbines at its Colossus 2 facility in Southaven, Mississippi. According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, the number of turbines has grown from [27 to 57](https://the-decoder.com/spacex-ipo-filing-shows-billions-in-ai-losses-a-2-trillion-valuation-target-and-turbine-spending-that-signals-more-data-center-conflicts-ahead/) since April, driving a 111 percent spike in nitrogen oxide emissions. Beyond Colossus 2, Elon Musk's company operates just one other major data center. ``` AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive "AI Radar" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section. Subscribe now ``` [WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/business/spacex-agrees-to-buy-ai-coding-agent-cursor-for-60-billion-7a473340)