Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended tech billionaire Elon Musk’s access to sensitive data housed within DHS’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), saying he’s conducting a necessary “audit” of the federal government.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” anchor Dana Bash asked Noem about reporting that Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have gained access to FEMA’s sensitive disaster data, including personal information on tens of thousands of people.
“The president has authorized him to have access to that,” Noem told Bash, adding that she’s “absolutely” comfortable with it.
“We’re working with them at the president’s direction to find what we can do to make our department much more efficient,” Noem said, when asked if she personally authorized Musk and his team to have access to the data housed within DHS.
“So this is essentially an audit of the federal government,” she continued, “which is very powerful and needs to have happened.”
When Bash noted that Republicans have frequently been critical about government access to data, Noem agreed that “we can’t trust the government anymore,” but added that, “Elon Musk is part of the administration that is helping us identify where we can find savings and what we can do, and he has gone through the processes to make sure that he has the authority the president has granted him.”
Noem said she is comfortable with Musk having access to the data, noting it’s been available to the government for a long time and that Musk is focusing on eliminating government waste, not people’s private data.
“I am today by the work that he’s doing by identifying waste, fraud and abuse, and his information that he has is looking at programs not focusing on personal data and information,” she said, when asked whether she’s totally comfortable with Musk’s access.
Pushed on the extent of Musk’s access, Noem said, “You know, we’ll be continuing to talk to him about what all he has access to.”
“But this, this audit needs to happen to make sure that we are going through a process that adds integrity back into these programs and people’s personal information has been out there in these case works that have been closed for a long time, that people are getting responses now that they haven’t had before,” she added.
