Experts warn that DOGE’s access to Treasury data poses risks to U.S. financial stability and raises security concerns.

Elon Musk addresses attendees at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025.

By NEWS BLEND 360

Updated 10:23 PM EST, February 10, 2025

WASHINGTON (NB360) — The integration of the Department of Government Efficiency into the federal government has sparked numerous concerns, shifting the discussion from reducing government waste to issues surrounding privacy rights and the nation's global financial reputation.

DOGE, led by billionaire Donald Trump supporter Elon Musk, has swiftly entrenched itself within federal agencies, taking significant measures to reduce expenditures. This includes efforts to eliminate thousands of federal positions, closing the U.S. Agency for International Development, and accessing the Treasury Department’s vast payment systems.

Advocacy groups and labor unions have initiated legal actions to protect agencies and federal jobs, while five former treasury secretaries are raising concerns about the dangers of Musk’s DOGE accessing sensitive Treasury Department payment systems and the potential halting of congressionally approved payments.

“Any indication of selectively suspending congressionally authorized payments will constitute a breach of trust and, ultimately, a form of default. Once lost, our credibility will be challenging to recover,” stated former treasury secretaries Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew, and Janet Yellen in an op-ed in The New York Times on Monday.

They caution against the dangers of “arbitrary and capricious political control of federal payments, which would be unlawful and damaging to our democracy.”

Musk commented on his social media platform X on Monday that “we need to stop government spending like a drunken sailor on fraud & waste or America is gonna go bankrupt. That does mean a lot of grifters will lose their grift and complain loudly about it. Too bad. Deal with it.”

Experts in the financial and digital privacy sectors warn that the U.S. financial system is fragile and complex and could be negatively impacted by unilateral actions. They also indicate that Americans’ personal information could be at risk due to the insecure handling of sensitive data.

Andrew Metrick, director of the Yale Program on Financial Stability, claims that DOGE’s approach as a "go fast and break things group" threatens the U.S. financial system and the U.S. dollar's role as the global reserve currency.

Regarding the reduction of government programs or potentially undermining U.S. democratic norms, DOGE "may not be concerned, but they should be worried about damaging the dollar and the security of U.S. government debt," Metrick stated.

Metrick noted that a default event on bonds, especially as the U.S. approaches its statutory debt limit, would be seen as crossing a dangerous threshold.

"We maintain a complex financial system — a few missteps and the world loses confidence in our ability to manage it."

In terms of cybersecurity, the public is unaware of the safeguards or policies, if any, that Musk and his team used to protect the sensitive data they accessed, according to John Davisson, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit advocating for digital privacy. Davisson described DOGE’s access as "the largest and most significant data breach in U.S. history."

The Treasury Department’s databases contain information on individual and business taxes, medical records, Social Security payments and numbers, and government payments, along with a wide range of other personal data, including birthdates, home addresses and phone numbers, military records, and disability information, Davisson explained.

Typically, government employees handling this data must follow training requirements and numerous rules to ensure the data is not mishandled, leaked, or breached. Data is often kept separate in different systems to prevent any one person from easily accessing all the information. What might seem like inefficiency, Davisson said, is actually a method of securing sensitive data.

Davisson described it as an "imperfect yet fairly strong" system, noting that without it, Americans might face increased risks of identity theft, stalking, or other crimes. Personal details could be sold to online data brokers, who might use the information to create an even more precise picture of Americans and their behaviors.

Davisson expressed his skepticism regarding Musk and Trump's claims that data access is aimed at enhancing government efficiency.

“This is about control. There are ways to improve efficiency in government. ... They involve legislation, they involve regulation, they involve trained personnel and experts,” he stated. “This is about gaining control over databases and thereby exerting control over federal agencies.”

In one of several conflicts concerning DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department, labor unions and advocacy groups have filed lawsuits to prevent the payments system review from advancing due to legality concerns. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Thursday limited DOGE’s read-only access to Treasury’s payment systems to two individuals, one being Tom Krause, who is now listed on the Treasury Department website as fulfilling the role of fiscal assistant secretary.

Saturday’s court decision in favor of 19 Democratic attorneys general who filed suit to prevent DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records demonstrates that Americans have the power to oppose Musk, said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, one of the groups that has sued the government over DOGE’s access. She mentioned that her organization and other advocacy groups will strive to ensure the new administration adheres to the law — and that court orders are respected.

“This is really clear law. Our federal records contain personal information. They’re protected,” she said. “They are moving quickly and undertaking actions that typical governments wouldn’t attempt, and the courts are responding appropriately.”

Trump told Fox News on Sunday that Musk is “not gaining anything” from his involvement in DOGE. ”We’re going to uncover billions, hundreds of billions, of dollars in fraud and abuse and, you know, the people elected me on that,” Trump stated.

Metrick commented: “I am concerned they have a hammer, and the entire government appears as a nail to them, but Treasury is a thumb.