DOGE: Elon Musk starts work amid controversy

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Elon Musk, tech billionaire and friend of the new US President Donald Trump, has started work in the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. The "Department of Government Efficiency" – DOGE for short – is tasked with making proposals to reduce US government spending. In order to carry out this task, Musk has been given access to the US Treasury's payment system, among other things.

His goal is to streamline the government, Trump said in a press conference at the White House. Musk could fire government employees if he agreed. "Elon cannot and will not do anything without our approval, and we will give him approval where it's appropriate. If it's not appropriate, we won't."

Access to payment flows

With access to the financial system, Musk can now control payments from the US Treasury Department, as reported by the New York Times, among others. A high-ranking Treasury Department official who had opposed this has been retired, according to the Washington Post.

The system is used to process transactions for US federal authorities. These include the salaries of government employees, tax refunds and social security benefits. Over 6 trillion US dollars flow through this system every year. Accordingly, it contains the personal data of millions of US citizens who receive money from the government, as well as companies that do business with it.

According to a report by Wired, Musk is said to have given other people access to the system. These are six men between the ages of 19 and 25 who have little or no experience in working for the government. According to Wired, one of them is still at college. They are all said to be connected to Musk himself or tech investor Peter Thiel, who once worked with Musk at Paypal.

Musk is said to have entrusted these six people with important tasks at DOGE. Other confidants, including senior employees of Musk's companies xAI, Tesla and The Boring Company, hold key positions in government agencies such as the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) or General Services Administration (GSA).

Musk and Trump against USAID

The first government agency that Musk has targeted is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – apparently with Trump's blessing: the agency is "run by a bunch of radical crazies", said the US President in a roundtable with journalists on the X Spaces platform. "We'll get rid of them and then we'll make a decision."

Shortly after taking office, Trump halted the disbursement of US aid funds for 90 days. A number of USAID employees and managers were furloughed or dismissed. The agency's website is no longer accessible. Musk wanted to close USAID completely. According to the Washington Post, it has since been transferred to the State Department.

According to a report by CNN, several DOGE employees tried to gain access to the USAID building in the US capital Washington DC, but were denied. The DOGE employees are said to have demanded access to security systems, personnel files and documents that only people with security clearance are allowed to view under special conditions.

It is unclear whether the DOGE employees obtained the classified documents. In response to the AP report on what happened at USAID, DOGE employee Katie Miller wrote on Musk's short messaging service X: "No confidential material was accessed without appropriate security clearance."

Does Musk have a security clearance?

It is also unclear whether Musk and his DOGE employees even have security clearance. He has Special Government Employee status, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a Q&A session with the press. However, she was not sure whether he and his staff had security clearance and whether they had undergone background checks.

According to the White House spokeswoman, all applicable regulations were complied with when Musk was appointed as a Special Government Employee. For example, Special Government Employees may not work for the government for more than 130 days in a 365-day period. In addition, they may not be involved in matters that affect their own financial interests.

In the meantime, there is resistance to Musk's and the government's actions: three employee representatives have filed a lawsuit against the US Treasury Department and Secretary Scott Bessent, demanding that Musk and DOGE's access to the payment system be revoked. This is illegal and constitutes a violation of data protection guidelines.

(wpl)