Lawmakers fear Elon Musk, DOGE not adhering to privacy rules

Congress is getting vocal about the privacy and security implications of Elon Musk and his cohorts at the Department of Government Efficiency accessing federal systems.

Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee said Wednesday DOGE must comply with security and privacy laws as they obtain access to federal systems, something the lawmakers say they don’t seem to be doing. And a group of senators said DOGE was taking “illegal actions” that risk exposure of classified and sensitive information.

Musk, head of the special governmental board that President Donald Trump has set up as a temporary organization, has reportedly dispatched aides to access databases at the Treasury Department, Office of Personnel Management, U.S. Agency for International Development, Small Business Administration and perhaps others.

“By all accounts, DOGE is running roughshod across Federal networks, accessing untold amounts of information about Americans in complete disregard for security and privacy standards,” wrote the House lawmakers, led by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. “The systems include the payment systems that the Treasury Department uses to honor U.S. financial obligations, those that store sensitive personnel data on Federal employees, and reportedly classified information systems, which DOGE has absolutely no authority to access.

“This reporting also indicates that DOGE officials have transferred data to commercial servers that may not have been vetted for compliance with security and privacy requirements, another potential violation of Federal law,” they said in their letter to Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The senators, led by top Intelligence Committee Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, separately wrote to Susie Wiles, chief of staff to Trump.

“As you know, information is classified to protect the national security interests of the United States,” they said about DOGE’s “seemingly unfettered access to classified materials and Americans’ personal information.”

“Government employees and contractors only receive access to such information after they have undergone a rigorous background investigation and demonstrated a ‘need to know,’” they said, while also expressing concern about access to sensitive personal information. “Circumventing these requirements creates enormous counterintelligence and security risks.”

Cyber experts and others have compared the DOGE activity to a data breach. Federal employees have also sued over alleged privacy violations.

The Office of Management and Budget and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday’s letters.

“We know that China and other foreign adversaries are regularly seeking to breach Federal agency networks to gather exploitable information about government officials, American citizens, and U.S. businesses,” the House Democrats wrote. “That is why the U.S. government has implemented numerous policies and programs to secure sensitive data.

“Elon Musk and his DOGE associates are not exempt from those policies,” they continued. “Under your statutory obligations, you are responsible for ensuring that Elon Musk complies with data privacy and security requirements, and we urge you to take action to ensure compliance.”