Warren, Connolly, Stansbury, House Oversight Members Open Investigation Into DOGE.gov After Alarming Failures to Protect Sensitive National Security Information
DOGE employees may be sharing classified government information using insecure communications channels.
“These incidents – whether due to maliciousness or incompetence – are inexcusable and raise additional questions about DOGE employees’ access to highly sensitive personal and national security information, and what they are doing with it.”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Representative Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, along with every Democratic member of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, including Ranking Member Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Eleanor Homes Norton (D-D.C.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), wrote to Elon Musk, opening an investigation into DOGE.gov following two recent incidents of alarming security failures and reports that DOGE employees shared sensitive government information using insecure communications channels.
“These incidents – whether due to maliciousness or incompetence – are inexcusable and raise additional questions about DOGE employees’ access to highly sensitive personal and national security information, and what they are doing with it,” wrote the lawmakers.
DOGE has seized access to highly confidential government and personal information, including tax, Medicare, Social Security, and national security data, which has already led to multiple lawsuits. In just a matter of three weeks, DOGE employees have fed sensitive data into artificial intelligence software, ordered an unauthorized email server to be connected to the government network, and have accidentally been given “write” access to the U.S. Treasury payment system.
“DOGE employees do not appear to fully understand much of the information to which they have been given unfettered access, and given the cavalier and incompetent ways that they have handled this data, these individuals represent a clear threat to national security and the nation’s economy,” continued the lawmakers.
In fact, after the DOGE.gov website launched, two security researchers confirmed that the website was not hosted on secure government servers, making it especially vulnerable to third-party hackers. In particular, details on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which designs and builds U.S. intelligence satellites, were searchable within the database, as well as controlled information about the NRO’s budget and head count. This incident left federal intelligence employees “scrambling” to see if their sensitive information had been accessed.
“These examples of DOGE’s recklessness and inability to accomplish simple tasks – such as establishing a secure database and website housing such critical and confidential government data – combined with its broad access to government data and systems, poses a grave threat to the United States’ economy and national security,” wrote the lawmakers.
The lawmakers are requesting answers from Mr. Musk by March 6, 2025.
###
Next Article Previous Article