House Democrats urge security investigations into Elon Musk’s team

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Get our free Inside Washington email

House Democrats are pushing for investigations into possible national security threats posed by Elon Musk’s unvetted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter Thursday to push deputy inspectors general at a number of federal agencies to investigate possible security breaches by Musk’s team.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is in charge of DOGE, an advisory panel tasked with finding severe cuts to the federal budget. It has already led the charge to nearly fully dismantle the United States Agency for International Development. USAID is one of the agencies where Democrats are calling for security investigations, as well as the Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Education, the General Services Administration, and the Small Business Administration.

USAID staff was put on leave this week after Musk said he was attempting to close down the agency, deeming it “beyond repair.” Lawmakers said that there had been unauthorized access to classified data at USAID and OPM. Musk’s team also commandeered payment systems with millions of people’s personal information, the lawmakers said.

“We are deeply concerned that unauthorized system access could be occurring across the federal government and could pose a major threat to the personal privacy of all Americans and to the national security of our nation,” the lawmakers said in the letter.

“Although Elon Musk appears to have been granted the status of ‘Special Government Employee,’ there is no evidence that he, or any of his associates working under the ‘DOGE team’ moniker are entitled to access our government systems, nor is there any evidence that they have undergone the proper vetting to ensure the security of taxpayer and government data,” they added.

On Wednesday, a White House official told Reuters that Musk and his team have the proper security clearances and that while they can view payment data, they cannot make any changes.

The official told the news agency that Musk and his group of engineers are working in “full compliance with federal law, appropriate security clearances, and as employees of the relevant agencies, not as outside advisors or entities.”

The panel of lawmakers sent the letter mostly to deputy inspectors general instead of inspectors general, as the Trump administration fired 17 of the independent watchdogs last month. Critics called it a late-night purge to make way for MAGA loyalists.