Despite repeated internal warnings from cybersecurity staff and agency officials, Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) has been granted access to the federal payroll system that handles salary processing for over a quarter-million government workers. The move, which occurred quietly over the weekend, has sparked outrage among civil servants and digital security experts alike.
According to The Guardian, at least two senior officials expressed concerns as early as last month, citing the possibility of “unauthorized data exposure, backdoor access, and political targeting” should DOGE be allowed to interface directly with payroll databases. The system in question processes pay for roughly 276,000 employees across multiple government departments, including the Department of Energy, the EPA, and sections of the Department of Justice.
While the Trump administration has framed DOGE as a cost-cutting, innovation-driven initiative, watchdog groups and some federal employees view it as a political tool designed to give Musk unprecedented reach into bureaucratic infrastructure. “This isn’t about efficiency. This is about control,” said one agency insider who spoke to The Crustian Daily on condition of anonymity. “They want access to names, departments, pay levels, everything. That’s not streamlining. That’s surveillance.”
As of Monday, Musk has not publicly addressed the breach concerns. However, White House spokesperson Darren Kelley claimed the move is part of a larger audit of “waste and inefficiency” and that DOGE will be “ensuring compliance with Trump-era fiscal mandates.”
Digital rights experts were less charitable. “Allowing a private billionaire with political ties access to one of the most sensitive systems in government is a flagrant breach of both ethics and cybersecurity best practices,” said Nadine Kumar, senior analyst at the Civil Tech Accountability Project.
This latest development follows a string of controversial DOGE moves, including the removal of multiple procurement oversight roles and the quiet replacement of longtime staffers with pro-Trump tech consultants linked to Musk’s other ventures. Internal memos obtained by The Crustian Daily suggest that even some within the Office of Personnel Management raised concerns, only to be overruled.
As pressure mounts on the Biden-blunted Democratic opposition to push back on these sweeping overreaches, Musk’s influence over the Trump White House appears only to be growing. For now, the DOGE program marches forward—unchecked and embedded deeper into the machinery of the state.
