Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as D.O.G.E, now has its hands deep inside the US Treasury’s payment systems, and lawmakers are freaking out, calling it a “national security disaster” waiting to happen.
On Friday, the newly appointed Bitcoin-loving Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved D.O.G.E’s unrestricted access immediately after Elon asked.
And just like that, Elon’s people now have their eyes on $6 trillion in federal payments. But I mean, much less qualified people have done that. This is the richest, and arguably most powerful person on the planet. And history has shown us that more times than not, Elon is on the right side of history. But this is less about economics and security and more about politics anyway. The Democrats are turning out to be some really sore losers.
Senator Ron Wyden, the Democratic senator from Oregon and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, explained via a post on Bluesky yesterday that: “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Elon’s own companies. All of it, now at the hands of Elon.”
He also dragged Scott, calling his actions “biased” and “harmful.” According to Wyden, this access is dangerous because Elon’s gigantic business empire (and his deep ties to China) could create cybersecurity risks that America might not be able to handle.
A senior official quits after Elon’s team shows up
David A. Lebryk, the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department, wasn’t about to stick around and watch Elon’s people dig through the country’s finances. He resigned on Friday when D.O.G.E demanded full access to the Treasury’s systems.
Wyden, in a letter sent to Scott Bessent, said this payment system “simply cannot fail” and warned that letting D.O.G.E poke around in it is risky as hell.
Why? Because, according to these guys, the system contains sensitive personal information for millions of Americans who receive federal payments. Historically, access was limited to a few Treasury insiders for good reason, it’s a prime target for hackers and political abuse.
But now, one of the key D.O.G.E representatives with access is Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, which owns Citrix and other tech firms. China has a track record of breaking into US government databases, and just 2 days ago, a former Federal Reserve official was arrested for selling US secrets to China.
Last year, the Biden administration accused China of hacking US infrastructure and stealing phone records from top officials. So yes, the risks are admittedly there. But they do not come from Elon.
D.O.G.E turns up the heat on the government’s HR systems
Elon’s team is also going after the federal government’s human resources department, better known as the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This is the same OPM that was hacked in 2015, with China making off with the personal data of 22 million federal employees, including staff with top security clearances.
Now D.O.G.E has locked career civil servants out of key systems, according to Reuters, making the Dems even more nervous. Ol Lautman, an analyst at the Institute for Integrity, took to X (formerly Twitter) to say: “An unelected billionaire, Elon, now has access to the federal government’s payment system—and all of our data.”
She followed it up with a Substack post questioning why Elon’s team was handed so much power without any public oversight. “D.O.G.E is not a legitimate government entity,” Lautman wrote, “yet it can oversee or block payments that millions of Americans rely on. What is Elon planning to do with this private data?”
It’s a fair question, especially since President Donald Trump handed Elon this power without much explanation to the American public, other than that one time during a campaign rally in October when he said, “Elon is a star, a very bright star.”
The second he got back into the Oval, Trump immediately issued an executive order for Elon to cut federal spending. D.O.G.E’s mission is to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, but Elon has promised he wouldn’t touch Social Security or Medicare, which are programs Trump also vowed to protect.
Lawsuits, warnings, and accusations
Donald Sherman, who runs the ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), isn’t buying Elon’s promises. On January 24, CREW filed a lawsuit against D.O.G.E, arguing that Trump’s executive order lacked details and safeguards.
“Why is a billionaire donor running government finances without transparency?” Sherman asked in a statement. “This is a disaster waiting to happen, and we intend to hold them accountable.”
Jerald Lentini, a lawyer representing National Security Counselors, said Elon’s aggressive takeover of federal systems could lead to serious legal violations. “Laws have meaning, workers have rights, and real reform requires real accountability,” he told ABC News. His team is pushing for stronger legal protections to prevent D.O.G.E from overstepping its bounds.
While the lawsuits pile up, Elon isn’t slowing down. He claims D.O.G.E already uncovered major negligence at the Treasury. On X, the eccentric billionaire accused payment officers of approving everything—yes, everything—including payments to scammers and terrorist-linked entities
“They literally never denied a payment in their entire careers. Not a single one,” Elon told the public. Treasury officials haven’t denied the accusation, but they’re treating D.O.G.E’s demands like a hostile corporate takeover.
Elon’s plan to cut $4 billion in federal spending every day until September is causing panic in Washington. During a December 2024 visit to Capitol Hill, Elon and his ally, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, presented their plan to lawmakers, and to be honest, the reception wasn’t exactly warm.
Budget analysts and lawmakers doubted whether Elon could deliver on his promise without making cuts to the very programs Trump swore to protect.
Critics say Elon’s unrestricted access could give him a competitive advantage. He now has insight into government contracts, spending patterns, and even who his competitors are—information that could benefit his companies like Tesla and SpaceX.
Wyden’s letter to Bessent pointed to this as a potential conflict of interest, especially given Elon’s history of using data to crush rivals, which has by the way never been actually proven.
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