Senate lawmakers demand answers from the White House about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team’s access to sensitive government data and classified information after its personnel led by Elon Musk plowed its way through several federal agencies.
In a letter sent to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Wednesday, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), along with seven other senators, asked if Musk’s team had the necessary clearances to access sensitive government facilities, systems and records at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Treasury Department, Office of Personnel Management and other agencies.
“DOGE seems to have unimpeded access to some of our nation’s most sensitive information, including classified materials and the private personal and financial information of everyday Americans. In light of such unprecedented risks to our national and economic security, we expect your immediate attention and prompt response,” the lawmakers wrote.
In recent days, DOGE personnel gained access to the Treasury Department’s central payments database which the government uses to pay everyone from veterans to Social Security beneficiaries, taxpayers, federal employees and government contractors.
It also accessed the OPM’s employment records database, which contains employment-related documents for the entire federal workforce, including former federal employees, as well as applicants.
Over the weekend, DOGE personnel took over USAID without advanced notice or coordination. Several security officials were put on administrative leave for attempting to prevent the DOGE team’s access to classified information in restricted areas.
“As of today, the scope of DOGE’s access only seems to be expanding, as reports indicate DOGE has now entered the Department of Labor and other agencies,” said the lawmakers.
There is currently no available information on who has been hired under DOGE, the authority under which it operates, or how exactly it vets and monitors its staff before granting access to both unclassified and classified systems and facilities.
“We have no reason to believe that these individuals have proper clearance or authorization or training for these things, nor is it reasonable to believe that such a proper training and authorization and clearance could be granted in such a short time frame,” Alan Butler, a lawyer and executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told Federal News Network.
“I think there needs to be an investigation here by multiple independent entities in all three branches of government. I think there needs to be a judicial review. I think there needs to be an independent special prosecutor investigation. I think a lot of this constitutes unauthorized hacking in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, including potentially the Espionage Act. There’s just too much going on here and too much that we don’t know.”
In their letter, the lawmakers note that access to facilities and systems that contain security clearance files of Intelligence Community personnel put those employees at risk.
Meanwhile, unclassified systems also contain massive volumes of sensitive data, and any unintended disclosure could cause harm to individuals or organizations, including financial loss and identity theft.
Lawmakers also raised concerns about potential cybersecurity risks associated with the DOGE team accessing government networks.
“There are strict cybersecurity controls for accessing federal networks, which DOGE does not seem to be following, including by reportedly connecting personal devices to sensitive government systems. Such unregulated practices with our government’s most sensitive networks render Americans’ personal and financial information, and our classified national secrets, vulnerable to ransomware and cyber-attacks by criminals and foreign adversaries,” the lawmakers said.
President Donald Trump created DOGE through an executive order, putting Musk at the helm of it. Musk is also a major government contractor—last year, his companies Tesla and SpaceX secured approximately $3 billion across dozens of contracts with various federal agencies, including the Defense Department and NASA.
The unit’s mission is to eliminate government waste, fraud and abuse and cut federal regulations. Butler says accessing the Treasury Department’s central payments database, for instance, for audit purposes is a “completely absurd on its face justification for this action.”
“We have mechanisms to audit the government’s payments for waste, fraud and abuse. None of this is necessary for that purpose. We have mechanisms within the Treasury Department to review payments, to audit them. There’s no reason to believe that these individuals have been properly vetted, properly cleared, have any training or authorization to be poking around in these systems. All these systems are subject to strict privacy act rules and federal information management system controls that specify in the records that these systems are to be limited in access to what is strictly necessary. None of this is necessary,” said Butler.
“And there are significant national security and broader economic risks associated with unauthorized access to the payment system, because those payments implicate fundamentally the proper functioning of the United States government. There’s been reporting that says that some individuals have code execution access to that system and are actually changing and reprogramming the system, which is a legacy system that is a piece of critical infrastructure for the US government.”
The Senate lawmakers are asking the White House to provide a list of personnel hired under DOGE, their positions and responsibilities; a list of all unclassified and classified systems and records DOGE has requested access to or gained access to; security clearances given to DOGE personnel and who authorized those clearances; and processes followed prior to granting DOGE staff with security clearances.
Top House Democrats sent a similar letter to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, warning that DOGE’s current actions pose “enormous risks” to national security.
“Given the legal requirements to handle classified, sensitive, and personally identifiable information, we seek a swift explanation of how DOGE personnel’s intrusion into and access to secure government spaces, data, and information systems comport with U.S. law and national security interests,” the ranking members of seven House committees said in the letter.
The Senate and House lawmakers expect answers from the White House by Feb. 14.
DOGE spokesperson Katie Miller posted the AP article on social media platform X about USAID security officers being placed on administrative leave saying, “No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), has argued in an interview with the National Public Radio that all of DOGE’s recent actions have all signs of “illegal seizures of power,” igniting a “constitutional crisis.”
“I think when you’re seeing a usurpation of power against clear lawful rules, I think that’s a constitutional crisis. I think time to time will tell in terms of the responses by all three branches of government to these actions. I think if there’s not adequate response from all three branches of government, then yes, we’re in a full blown constitutional crisis, and we’re beyond the rule of law,” said Butler.
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