Elon Musk and his cost-cutting team gain access to sensitive US Treasury database – News

Elon Musk and his nongovernmental team of government spending slashers have been granted access to the U.S. Treasury’s payments system, which is used to disperse trillion of dollars worth of government funds each year.

Critics say the move to give Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency staff access to the system is alarming and perhaps even illegal, as it exposes the sensitive personal information of millions of Americans, as well as the details of public contractors that compete directly with Musk’s own companies.

Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon and a member of the Senate’s finance committee, said in a post on Bluesky that the Treasury’s highly sensitive database is now in the hands of Musk and his DOGE team. He added that the database includes details on “social security and medicare benefits, grants, payments to contractors… all of it.”

The decision was later confirmed by Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s new treasury secretary, who said they have “full access” to the system.

DOGE is not an official government department, but rather a special team within the Trump administration. It was put together by Musk under Trump’s authority, and its mission is to fan out across federal agencies in order to seek ways to cut government spending, reduce the size of its workforce, and increase efficiency. Most of the people working for the DOGE team were personally recruited by Musk.

The Treasury payment system is one of the most sensitive U.S. government databases, controlling the flow of more than $6 trillion of government money each year. Millions of Americans are dependent on the system for their social security payments, medicare benefits, federal salaries and other payments.

Under previous administrations, the database was always extremely carefully guarded, with only a limited number of officials cleared to access and control it. However, Musk and members of his DOGE team have insisted they need access to it, and Trump appears to have given them the green light to do so.

David Lebryk, the Treasury Department’s top civil servant, was reportedly retired after more than 30 years of service on Friday after clashing with Musk associates over their demands to access the system.

The New York Times reported that Lebryk was first placed on administrative leave after refusing to give the DOGE agents access. According to that report, he was later overruled by Bessent, who subsequently pushed through his retirement.

One of the DOGE team members who can now access the database is Tom Krause, chief executive officer of a company called Cloud Software Group Inc.

Before Musk and his team were given entry into the system, Wyden attempted to prevent it, sending a memo to Bessent warning of the dangers of giving too many people access. He said it was “so critical it simply cannot fail.”

According to Wyden, there is a big risk that any politically motivated meddling with the system might cause “severe damage to our country and the economy.” He added that he cannot think of any good reason why “political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law” should be allowed to access such a sensitive system.

One of the main fears is that Musk and his associates could use the system to prevent payments being made to federal government programs, as part of his “slash and burn” approach to curtailing spending. Additionally, Wyden said, the move could pose a threat to national security, given that Musk has significant business interests in China. He said opening up access to the database increases the risk that the Chinese intelligence services could obtain sensitive data.

Wyden insisted that the move “endangers U.S. cybersecurity and creates conflicts of interest that make [Musk’s] access to these systems a national security risk.”

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