The so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a “temporary organization” President Donald Trump created by renaming the U.S. Digital Service, has entrusted some of the nation’s most sensitive data to six inexperienced and unvetted young men who operate at the whims of Elon Musk.
That includes the U.S. Treasury Department’s payment system, where a 25-year-old Musk aide named Marko Elez reportedly had administrator-level access to systems that paid out $5.45 trillion in fiscal year 2024.
(Elez resigned Thursday after The Wall Street Journal asked about social media posts he made that advocated for eugenics and promoted racism. Musk has pledged to rehire him.)
DOGE has also perched similarly inexperienced employees (one is 19 years old) atop the Department of Labor and the Education Department, having already gained access to classified material at the U.S. Agency for International Development before abruptly shutting it down (perhaps illegally).
There have been reports of similar chaos at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a target of Project 2025, and the Department of Commerce.
“They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” Andrew Rosenberg, a former NOAA official, told The Guardian. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information.”
Trump created DOGE at Musk’s behest, enlisting the world’s richest man to cut costs across the federal government after Musk spent more than $250 million to help elect him. He’s since plunged the government into chaos as he’s tried to bully and cajole federal workers into quitting and reportedly siphoned government data off onto private servers.
Musk also has not been vetted or approved by Congress. House Democrats attempted to subpoena him this week, but Republicans on the House Oversight Committee blocked the motion.
A growing swarm of lawsuits is swatting back at the bedlam. Here’s a brief look at eight lawsuits that have been filed so far, with more on the way:
Threelawsuitsdating back to Trump’s Inauguration Day challenge DOGE’s very existence, arguing it violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The 1972 law requires various advisory groups that may influence the president to be public, unbiased and transparent.
DOGE is not a federal department, and, they argue, therefore subject to these rules.
“DOGE’s unchecked secrecy, access and private influence — bought by political loyalty — is anathema to efficient, effective government,” reads one of the suits, filed by a consortium of six groups, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“Indeed, any federally endorsed, but fundamentally private, advisory effort to shape how our government serves the American people must comply with federal transparency laws, including FACA. Defendants have not done so.”
An additional suit, also filed on Inauguration Day, demands the Office of Management and Budget turn over all of the communication between OMB officials and DOGE officials during the presidential transition.
Four additional lawsuits have been filed this week alone, each tied to DOGE’s actions at specific federal agencies:
1. On Tuesday, three union-affiliated groups sued the Treasury Department in U.S. District Court for turning over personal and financial information to DOGE.
The list of allegedly compromised data includes millions of Americans’ names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, birthplaces, home addresses and telephone numbers, email addresses and bank account information.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Thursday ordered the Treasury to limit DOGE’s access to the records to two employees who were given read-only access.
In a separate development, attorneys general in 13 states have also vowed to sue DOGE over its access to sensitive data.
2. On Wednesday, five government unions and the Economic Policy Institute filed suit in U.S. District Court over DOGE’s actions at the Department of Labor, where the plaintiffs argue DOGE’s data grab violates both the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Administrative Procedure Act.
Musk’s siphoning up of Labor Department data deserves particular scrutiny. Tesla, the car company Musk owns, has been regularly accused of violating various labor laws; from 2014-2018, Tesla racked up three times more Occupational Safety and Health violations than its other top 10 competitors combined.
3. On Thursday, the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees filed suit in U.S. District Court over the dismantling of USAID. The lawsuit contends that Congress ― not Trump/Musk ― is the only entity with the political power to shut down USAID, since it was created via congressional authorization.
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4. And on Friday, the University of California Student Association sued the Department of Education for failing to protect sensitive data from DOGE tied to federal student loans. The information includes names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, driver’s license numbers and other financial information.
Loan applicants’ parents also have been roped into the mess, as the Education Department often requires their financial information for student loans.