Representatives of Elon Musk have been granted full access to a highly sensitive U.S. Treasury Department payments system responsible for distributing trillions of dollars annually. The decision, approved by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, has raised significant concerns, with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) warning that Musk’s access to the system poses a national security risk.
According to reports, Bessent granted access to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Friday, following a standoff earlier in the week. The move came after the Treasury’s highest-ranking career official, David A. Lebryk, left the department amid resistance to DOGE’s requests for access. Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, stated on Bluesky that Musk’s team now has visibility into all federal disbursements, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, government grants, payments to contractors, including those competing with Musk’s businesses.
The system in question is operated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service and controls approximately six trillion dollars in annual federal payments and contains vast amounts of personal data on millions of Americans. Historically, access to such sensitive systems has been tightly restricted to a select group of Treasury officials due to its sensitivity and the critical nature of the data. Wyden’s letter to Bessent emphasised that “the payments system simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy.”
One of the DOGE representatives now authorised to access the system is Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, which owns Citrix and several other companies. Neither Krause nor the Treasury Department has responded to requests for comment.
Wyden has warned that Musk’s growing influence over government systems creates potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and highlighted Musk’s significant business ties to China. His concerns come amid increased tensions between the U.S. and China, with the latter being blamed for cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure and a breach of Treasury systems late last year.
The senator also pointed to the 2015 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack, attributed to China, which exposed sensitive data of over 22 million U.S. government employees, including those with security clearances. Reports have also surfaced that Musk’s representatives recently locked career civil servants out of sensitive OPM systems. There are fears that such actions could leave the door open for further security breaches. DOGE is reportedly now scrutinising multiple government departments, including OPM.
This latest development is seemingly part of a broader strategy of Musk and his associates to expand their influence over federal operations following Donald Trump’s return to office on January 20. After taking office, Trump directed Musk to implement widespread spending cuts across the government. Since then, Musk’s representatives have been placed in key agencies, including OPM and the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees federal real estate.
The controversy surrounding Musk’s team securing access to Treasury’s payment infrastructure is likely to intensify as DOGE takes on oversight of increasingly critical government technology. With growing concerns over data integrity, cybersecurity, and foreign influence, scrutiny of Musk’s expanding role in federal operations is expected to increase.
Via: The New York Times
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