While Elon Musk aims to make his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) unique with his plans to use blockchain tech, not everyone in the US government is happy about it. Recently, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, pointed out that DOGE might be a security risk as it was given authorization to access the Treasury system, which is deemed very sensitive.
What is the extent of DOGE’s access? “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it,” Wyden said.
Issues of Musk having access to the US government payment system has created issues: recently, a senior official of the Treasury Department has left due to his rift with Musk’s team.
Musk’s takeover of the inner workings of the US Government is meant to improve overall efficiency by reducing federal government spending as orderded by US President Donald Trump, but his plans for DOGE has been bringing up issues of security as government officials are wary of what Musk might do. Given his very messy start of taking over Twitter (which is still chaotic up to now), we understand why the US Government is not comfortable with Musk’s plans for DOGE even if he does have good intentions.
