US EditionDOGE accesses federal payroll system and punishes employees who objected
- Over the weekend, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency gained access to the Federal Personnel and Payroll System at the Interior Department, a nearly 30-year-old system that processes salaries for about 276,000 federal employees across dozens of agencies.
- President Trump signed an executive order giving DOGE broad authority to access unclassified systems as part of an effort to cut costs and make the government more efficient, although court rulings have ordered the government to limit DOGE's access to certain records.
- DOGE workers, after trying for about two weeks, obtained administrative access to the FPPS, giving them visibility into sensitive employee information, such as Social Security numbers, and the ability to more easily hire and fire workers, overruling objections from senior IT staff who feared potential security compromises and cyberattacks.
- According to the New York Times, DOGE's access to the payroll system allows them to view sensitive information and make staffing decisions, with Musk defending his team's efforts as part of a broader effort to reconcile government databases and eliminate waste and fraud because "these databases don't talk to each other."
- Following DOGE's gaining access, the Interior Department's chief information and information security officers, who had resisted the move, were placed on administrative leave and are under investigation for workplace behavior, while sources worry about DOGE affiliates potentially damaging the FPPS or stopping paychecks, and a DOI spokesperson stated they are working to execute the President's directive.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Experts Warn! Elon Musk's DOGE Now Holds Sensitive Payroll Data Raising Alarm Over Security and Privacy
Donald Trump has granted Elon Musk and DOGE access to salary information of several hundreds of federal employees. This puts their private information at risk and out for misuse.
DOGE's access to the payroll system of 276,000 federal employees puts government on path to have 'unprecedented power and control' over Americans' information, experts say
The Elon Musk-led advisory’s retrieval of sensitive information raises questions about the group’s long-term goals and the legality of achieving them.
Letter: Chaos, cruelty, idiocy
Are Trump supporters really OK with what he’s doing? He fired 17 inspectors general; is letting DOGE gut NOAA and FEMA and dismantle those congressionally mandated agencies that keep our air and water clean, protect us from rapacious banks, keep us safe from disease and serve our veterans. DOGE fired those responsible for our nuclear stockpile, realized they screwed up again, and then couldn’t find them? Elon Musk pressured the FAA administrator…
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