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Elon Musk’s DOGE Is Getting Audited · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  Why would someone with no federal experience and ties to
• 0:03
  Elon Musk be granted access to the Treasury's payment systems?
• 0:07
  And why are agencies like the Department of Labor and Social
• 0:11
  Security Administration quietly preparing detailed logs and
• 0:15
  security records for government auditors?
• 0:18
  And why, more than a year after Donald Trump created the
• 0:20
  Department of Government Efficiency, are so many insiders
• 0:24
  sounding alarms about who is inside the nation's most secure
• 0:29
  data systems and what they're doing with access now?
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  The Department of Government Efficiency DOGE was created
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  under Trump's administration with the stated mission of
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  streamlining bureaucracy in modernizing outdated federal
• 0:43
  systems. And while that objective on its
• 0:45
  face sounds like a technical improvement project, the
• 0:49
  execution has triggered a wave of concern.
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  Federal employees are now grappling with the realization
• 0:54
  that many of the people embedded inside their agencies under the
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  DOGE banner are neither civil servants nor trained in the
• 1:02
  protocols of federal cybersecurity.
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  Instead, they're often former employees of Elon Musk's private
• 1:08
  ventures, such as X or Tesla, who have taken on public roles
• 1:12
  with unprecedented access. Now, the audit now underway by
• 1:17
  the Government Accountability Office seeks to determine
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  whether DOGE operatives have violated laws governing data
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  protection in privacy across a sprawling list of federal
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  departments. Among those under review are the
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  departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services,
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  Homeland Security, the Treasury and the Social Security
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  Administration. Now DOGE itself, formerly known
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  as the US Doge Service USDS, is also being examined.
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  GAO is requesting comprehensive logs, security protocols and
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  risk assessments from these agencies, many of which show
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  signs of scrambling to comply. The GA OS mission is not
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  administrative in nature. Its role is to independently
• 2:00
  investigate government performance on behalf of
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  Congress. Now, this audit was initiated
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  following congressional concern. The Doge's actions might not
• 2:09
  just be unorthodox, they could be completely illegal or
• 2:14
  unconstitutional. The watchdog agency has also
• 2:19
  asked departments to turn over documents related to system
• 2:22
  access, internal security measures and any incidents
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  involving misuse of insensitive systems or data.
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  Now, these requests are precise and technical, indicating that
• 2:34
  the GA OS review not just a surface level inquiry but a
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  forensic investigation against DOGE.
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  At the heart of the concern is the presence of DOGE personnel
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  inside systems that handle everything from tax records to
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  Social Security payments, and in some cases, these operatives
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  have reported attempted to merge systems of data silos that were
• 2:56
  intentionally designed to remain separate.
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  Agency insiders have stated that DOGE staff often have no clear
• 3:03
  supervisory structure and have requested access that would
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  enable them to modify core system code, which is an action
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  that could interfere with government functions or expose
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  critical infrastructure to outside influence.
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  Not secure. And one of the clearest examples
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  of this tension emerged from the Department of Labor.
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  In confidential notes from an internal meeting held on March
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  18th, agency staff detailed the extent of DOGE integration into
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  their system. DOGE workers currently hold only
• 3:33
  read access to sensitive data they send, including payroll and
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  grants. However, they had already asked
• 3:39
  for broader privileges. The Department of Labor staff
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  responded by creating a buffer, asking DOGE operatives to
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  describe their goals so that regular agency employees could
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  execute any necessary actions on their behalf, rather than
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  letting them directly manipulate the systems of the code
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  themselves. Of the level of scrutiny being
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  applied by the Gio is very unusual.
• 4:03
  Agencies like the Department of Labor have been asked to present
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  not just security protocols, but even the specific settings on
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  laptops issued to DOGE affiliates.
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  Logs tracking cybersecurity incidents, audit trails, and
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  data loss prevention efforts have all been requested.
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  And furthermore, agencies must provide documentation outlining
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  who has system access, what level of access they had,
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  whether it's read, write or execute, how access is granted,
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  and whether it was later modified.
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  GAO wants to know whether DOGE personnel are working remotely
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  or on site, whether they are using government issued hardware
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  or personal devices, and what safeguards are in place to
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  ensure confidentiality and also legal compliance.
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  Now this story matters to you because it calls into question
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  how government power is being administration and by whom.
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  The federal government holds massive troves of personal data
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  on you right now, from health records to financial filings.
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  Everything you do in its systems are designed to shield that
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  information from tampering or unauthorized exposure.
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  Now, if private individuals without vetting or proper
• 5:15
  oversight are granted access to manipulate these databases, it
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  erodes trust in the systems themselves, and it also erodes
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  trust in institutions that are meant to guard them.
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  People rely on these systems every single day.
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  Social Security, whether it's to receive tax refunds, the IRS,
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  and also healthcare subsidies. Now, moreover, the audit raises
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  deeper concerns about accountability.
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  DOGE was established not through traditional legislative
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  channels, but via an executive order by President Donald Trump.
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  This has allowed it to operate with minimal transparency.
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  Even now, months into this audit, some DOGE operatives
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  reportedly do not know who is technically in charge of their
• 5:59
  work. Without clear leadership or
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  oversight, the risk of error or abuse escalates, especially when
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  the people involved may not fully understand the systems
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  they were accessing. Now, one name repeatedly
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  associated with high level access is Marco Alez, a 25 year
• 6:16
  old former engineer at X Elon, Elon Musk's social media
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  company. And according to reports and
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  internal records, Alez was given right access to treasury
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  systems, which means he had full power to alter any code in the
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  treasury. How?
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  This access created the possibility of disrupting
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  government payments, including those authorized by Congress.
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  Treasury staff compare the situation to having unauthorized
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  users in the system with the capability to bring core
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  functions to a halt and being powerless to intervene against
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  this one person. Now, Leslie's access was
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  reportedly not confirmed to the Treasury, though he has also
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  been linked to both the Department of Labor and Social
• 7:01
  Security Administration. However, due to ongoing
• 7:04
  litigation, his access to Social Security Administration systems
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  has been restricted by a court order, and while Les has not
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  commented publicly, internal records confirm his presence
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  across multiple agencies and hit at a wider network of Doge
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  affiliates working in parallel rules.
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  Now Of particular concern is the executive order issued by Trump
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  on March 20th, which directs federal agencies to begin
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  consolidating their data repositories under the pretext
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  of fighting waste and fraud. Now we all this may sound
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  efficient. Critics warn that it could
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  create an unregulated mega database of personal information
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  accessible to individuals with no clear accountability.
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  Now, DOGE operatives under this directive have started the
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  process of linking systems that were previously siloed for
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  privacy reasons. This change could expose
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  Americans private data to unnecessary risks, and
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  congressional concern has been growing since at least February.
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  In a letter dated February 6th, Virginia Representative Bobby
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  Scott described the situation as a constitutional emergency and
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  formally request the GAOGAO open an investigation.
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  Soon after, Massachusetts Representative Richard Neal sent
• 8:23
  his own letter specifically naming the Treasury and Social
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  Security Administration as areas of concern.
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  Now, these formal inquiries help trigger the audit that is now
• 8:33
  expanding in scope. So in the weeks ahead, the GAO
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  is expected to meet directly with agency personnel and
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  observe DOGE activities in real time.
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  This is a scoop. The DOGE employees didn't know
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  about this, and this includes inspecting laptop
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  configurations, reviewing user activity logs, and confirming
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  whether proper data loss prevention tools are in place.
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  These steps will help determine whether DOGE access is being
• 9:00
  monitored and controlled in line with legal requirements now.
• 9:05
  This story will continue to develop as more documents are
• 9:08
  reviewed and more officials are questioned.
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  But for now, the GAO audit marks the first major attempt to bring
• 9:16
  transparency to Doge's operations.
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  If violations are uncovered, they could result in illegal
• 9:25
  action, tighter regulations, or even dismantling parts of DOGE
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  all together. The audit is expected to
• 9:32
  conclude in late spring, with findings to be made completely
• 9:36
  public. And until then, agency staff,
• 9:39
  elected officials and the public remain in a state of unease,
• 9:43
  waiting to learn just how deeply DOGE has dug into the federal
• 9:47
  data system and what consequences may follow.
• 9:52
  I want to say thank you so much for listening to the show today.
• 9:54
  I'm going to make you a deal right now.
• 9:57
  I want one thing from you and you're going to get 10 years
• 10:00
  from me. The one thing I want from you is
• 10:03
  for you to subscribe or follow on whatever podcast platform
• 10:06
  you're on right now. Takes a second completely free,
• 10:09
  and I'm going to give you 10 years of content.
• 10:12
  I've been doing this for five years already, so 10 years more.
• 10:16
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• 10:21
  So one thing from you. What tiny thing?
• 10:23
  And you're going to get 10 years of my life.
• 10:26
  So thank you so much for that. I appreciate you.
• 10:29
  Please take care of yourself and each other and I'll see you in
• 10:31
  the next one.