Update:
On February 5, the Economic Policy Institute joined the AFL-CIO and affiliate unions in an emergency lawsuit to block DOGE access to the U.S. Department of Labor. On February 7, a federal judge denied the request and granted DOGE access to DOL systems.
On February 8, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking DOGE’s access to U.S. Treasury Department systems. On February 21, a judge extended the order until the conclusion of the lawsuit.
On February 17, the White House confirmed reports that Michelle King, the acting head of the Social Security Administration, a 30-year veteran of the agency, had been replaced by a lower-level staffer who boasted on social media that he had circumvented agency protocols to share information with DOGE staffers. King’s departure followed her pledge to follow established procedures when granting access to SSA systems. Musk later justified DOGE’s access to sensitive SSA data, including Social Security numbers, medical records, and bank account numbers, claiming that DOGE had found evidence of fraud in the form of 150-year-old beneficiaries. However, it appears that DOGE staff had misinterpreted a code appearing in records with missing data. At this stage, DOGE staff lacking proper vetting may have gained access to sensitive data, software systems, or agency infrastructure at other agencies targeted by Musk, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Education, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Labor, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
On February 24, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management from sharing data with DOGE.
Upon taking office, President Trump established a new office within the U.S. Digital Service, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The office is led by billionaire Elon Musk, reportedly currently serving in the role as a “special government employee.” There have been conflicting reports about the status of his security clearance or the status of any ethics guardrails ensuring that, in his government role, he would not be able to access confidential or otherwise sensitive information that may have impacts on the extensive government contracts held by companies run by Musk. Despite this, it was reported that the DOGE office gained access to the federal payment system through the U.S. Treasury Department, a complex system that distributes trillions of dollars a year in federal funds and contains the sensitive personal data – including Social Security numbers – of millions of Americans.