3 hours ago

Democrats call for investigation into potential security breaches by Elon Musk

Senior Democrats are demanding an investigation into potential national security breaches created by Elon Musk’s takeover of certain federal agencies through his self-styled “department of government efficiency” (Doge).

In a letter published on Thursday, the members of the House oversight committee say they are worried that Musk and his operatives have illegally accessed classified information and sensitive personal data at agencies including the office of personnel management (OPM), the US treasury and the US Agency for International Development (USAid).

“There is no evidence that he, or any of his associates working under the ‘Doge team’ moniker, are entitled to access our government systems, nor is there any evidence that they have undergone the proper vetting to ensure the security of taxpayer and government data,” the letter said.

It calls on deputy inspectors general at those agencies, and others including the education department, the General Services Administration and the Small Business Administration, to investigate potential national security breaches involving Musk’s team.

“We are deeply concerned that unauthorized system access could be occurring across the federal government and could pose a major threat to the personal privacy of all Americans and to the national security of our nation,” the letter continued.

The moves comes as Democrats begin to crank up their opposition to Musk’s upending of US government systems, and a new poll suggests even some Republicans are becoming upset by the wrecking ball he is aiming at more federal agencies, including the labor department.

The number of Republicans who want Musk and Doge to have “a lot” of influence in the Trump administration has fallen significantly, to 26%, according to the Economist/YouGov poll conducted this week, reported by the Hill.

The same poll taken in the days immediately after Trump’s November election win revealed that enthusiasm among Republicans for Musk’s role stood at 47%.

The disquiet also appears to have spread to a number of Republican senators, who have begun voicing alarm at Musk’s tightening grip. The billionaire has moved to shutter USAid, and accessed payment systems and workers’ personal data at the US treasury, prompting a lawsuit and an order from justice department lawyers to back off, at least temporarily.

On Wednesday, agents of Doge spread across several more government agencies seeking access to data, the Washington Post reported, including the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

On Wednesday night the Doge team, said to include inexperienced coders and engineers as young as 19, visited the US Department of Labor. Earlier in the week Doge workers entered at least two offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), making personnel changes and accessing IT systems.

Musk’s next big target, meanwhile, appears to be the Department of Education, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to shut down. Similar to actions taken at other federal agencies and departments, employees were told not to come to work or placed on leave, and dozens of workers were locked out of government email accounts and other computer systems.

The Trump administration has set a Thursday night deadline for roughly 2 million employees in the federal government to surrender to buyouts or face the risk of being fired without compensation, although critics say there is no guarantee that those who accept will see any money either.

Democrats say Musk’s infiltration of the federal government, through an unofficial agency with no constitutional mandate or congressional oversight, amounts to a coup. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, told the chamber on Tuesday that an unelected “shadow government” was conducting a hostile takeover and usurping Trump’s authority.

“Whatever Doge is doing, it is certainly not what democracy looks like, or has ever looked like in the grand history of this country, because democracy does not work in the shadows, democracy does not skirt the rule of law,” Schumer said.

The White House, in an apparent effort to provide cover for Musk’s operations, said the SpaceX and Tesla founder had been designated an unsalaried “special government employee” at Trump’s direction to root out inefficiency and waste in government spending.

Trump himself has told reporters Musk “can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval”.

But unease has been mounting among elected officials, alongside a growing number of lawsuits. On Wednesday night, justice department attorneys agreed to an order temporarily restricting Doge staffers from accessing the treasury department’s payment system. That followed a lawsuit from union members and retirees claiming Musk’s team violated federal privacy laws.

In the House on Wednesday, the Wisconsin Democratic congressman Mark Pocan filed legislation called the Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy Act, AKA the Elon Musk Act.

“Elon Musk is ripping us off and like millions of Americans across the country, I’m pissed. I’m taking action [to prevent] grifters like him from getting richer while pillaging our tax dollars for himself,” Pocan said.

• This article was amended on 6 February 2025. Mark Pocan is a representative from Wisconsin, not Washington as an earlier version mistakenly said.

Read Entire Article