Uh Oh! Elon Musk's DOGE Is Getting Audited by the Government

Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency is getting a taste of its own medicine.

Since March, Wired reports, the Government Accountability Office, an independent investigative agency of Congress, has been auditing the Trump administration's initiative to slash federal expenditures. 

The probe concerns how DOGE, which GAO refers to as the US DOGE Service (USDS), handled sensitive data at multiple agencies, including the Departments of Labor, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the Treasury, the Social Security Administration, and even DOGE itself.

To do that, GAO is seeking incident reports on "potential or actual misuse of agency system or data," and other relevant documentation that could illuminate whether DOGE is taking necessary precautions as it sifts through mountains of information, according to Wired, including documentation from the agencies that DOGE is pawing through. As a guiding principle, GAO investigators are focusing on DOGE's adherence to privacy and data protection laws, and aim to examine every system that the organization has been given access to.

At the Department of Labor, for example, the congressional watchdog has cut to the chase by sending specific requests to the department's representatives to detail how DOGE has interacted with the agency.

"Please describe the safeguards that are in place to determine that USDS and/or agency DOGE team staff protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of agency systems and information consistent with relevant laws and guidance," reads one submitted request, obtained by Wired from the notes of a March meeting.

DOGE operatives have gained unprecedented levels of access to the backend systems of multiple federal agencies, touching on tax records and other forms of sensitive and personal data. This is especially alarming given the questionable qualifications of its employees — including its head honcho. 

Musk, a massive beneficiary of government contracts, brought his innumerable conflicts of interest further to the fore by attempting to access the Treasury's payment system so that he could shut down grants and other forms of monetary aid he didn't like. Meanwhile, some of DOGE's exceedingly young members have had past ties to cybercrime — a disquieting prospect.

"Americans expect that when they share personal information with the government, whether for paying taxes or accessing health or Social Security benefits, it will be safeguarded," House representative Richard Neal (D-MA) told Wired. "That is not what's happened with DOGE, and why, at my request, the Government Accountability Office is working to shed much-needed light on their access to and use of personal and confidential information."

Per the magazine, the review will wrap up by the end of spring, which will be used to create a public report. Right now, though, things are just getting off the ground.

"GAO has received requests to review actions taken by DOGE across multiple agencies," GAO spokesperson Sarah Kaczmarek told Wired. "The first thing GAO does as any work begins is to determine the full scope of what we will cover and the methodology to be used." 

"Until that is done," the spokesperson added, "we cannot provide any additional details or estimates on when the work will be completed."

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