- Donald Trump has granted Elon Musk’s DOGE access to most unclassified data held by U.S. government agencies.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been granted access to most unclassified data held by U.S. government agencies.
In an executive order formally establishing Musk’s cost-cutting initiative, President Donald Trump created DOGE by reorganizing an existing Obama-era entity, the U.S. Digital Service.
This move grants Musk and his DOGE colleagues access to a trove of federal data with minimal transparency requirements.
Under the executive order, U.S. government agencies must set up DOGE teams to implement the “DOGE agenda” and grant them “full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.”
According to the executive order, DOGE teams will typically include “one DOGE Team Lead, one engineer, one human resources specialist, and one attorney. “
DOGE has officially been tasked with “modernizing federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” but Musk’s goals are considerably larger.
The billionaire has said he wants to slash $2 trillion from U.S. spending, primarily through “mass headcount reductions across the federal bureaucracy.”
However, Musk has recently tried to walk back the $2 trillion figure, calling it a “best-case outcome” and stating he thought there was only a “good shot” at cutting half that amount.
The cost-cutting initiative was initially set to be a federal advisory committee, which would have subjected it to various transparency rules under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, including making its meetings publicly accessible.
By repurposing an existing government organization, Trump has effectively given DOGE access to a vast amount of government data while sidestepping these transparency requirements.
One former employee of Obama’s U.S. Digital Service agency told Wired that Trump’s choice to reorganize USDS into DOGE was an “A+ bureaucratic jiu-jitsu move.” However, they expressed concern about DOGE’s access to sensitive information.
“Is this technical talent going to be pointed toward using data from the federal government to track down opponents?” they said. “To track down particular populations of interest to this administration for the purposes of either targeting them or singling them out or whatever it might end up being?”
Representatives for DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune, made outside normal working hours.
What was the USDS?
The U.S. Digital Service was originally established by Obama in 2014 after the Healthcare.gov crash.
The agency was intended to be a specialized government technology team that could be deployed to government agencies struggling with outdated technology, working on projects like fixing the website for the Social Security Administration.
It’s unclear exactly how DOGE will coexist with USDS, but agency employees are reportedly being re-interviewed for their roles.
A report from NextGov said that current employees were being asked about technical assessments, whether they would relocate to D.C., and why the organization isn’t delivering.
One person familiar with the situation told NextGov there was a fear among USDS staff that they were being assessed for their loyalty to the newly reinstated President Trump.
