A prominent U.S. legislator asserts that representatives of Elon Musk have been granted “full access” to a U.S. Treasury payment system responsible for distributing trillions of dollars to Americans each year, expressing concerns that Musk’s access could present a “national security risk.”
Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, disclosed in a post on Bluesky on Saturday that his office was informed that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent authorized Musk’s team, identified as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to access the highly confidential Treasury system as of Friday. This authorization follows a standoff in the previous week, during which the Treasury’s top career official departed from the department after Musk’s team requested access to this system.
“This includes Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, and payments to contractors, including those competing directly with Musk’s enterprises. All of it,” Wyden elaborated in his post regarding DOGE’s access.
The New York Times also reported that Bessent authorized DOGE to access the Treasury’s payment system on Friday. It is reported that one representative from DOGE who received access is Tom Krause, the chief executive of Cloud Software Group, which owns Citrix and other companies. Krause did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment, and a spokesperson from the Treasury did not provide any comments when contacted on Saturday.
This episode marks another attempt by Musk and his associates to influence the internal operations of the federal government following President Donald Trump’s reestablishment in office on January 20. Upon his inauguration, Trump immediately instructed Musk to initiate significant cuts to federal government expenditure.
The system managed by the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service is responsible for distributing roughly $6 trillion in federal funds to American families, encompassing Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, and payments to federal employees and contractors, as noted in a letter authored by Wyden and sent to Bessent the prior day. Historically, access to the payment system has been restricted to a select few due to the presence of personal information pertaining to millions of Americans receiving federal payments, according to the Times.
Wyden stressed in his letter that the payments system “simply cannot afford to fail, and any politically-motivated interference could significantly harm our nation and its economy.”
In his correspondence, Wyden expressed concern that Musk’s substantial business ties in China “threaten U.S. cybersecurity” and create conflicts of interest that render his access to these systems a national security concern.
Last year, the Biden administration held China accountable for various intrusions targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, the hacking of phone records belonging to senior American officials during breaches of several major U.S. telecommunications and internet firms, and an incident involving the Treasury’s systems late last year. Wyden, who has long served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, remarked that granting access to sensitive systems to an individual with significant business interests in China is “unusual.”
Moreover, DOGE is reportedly looking into several additional federal departments, including the federal government’s human resources department, known as the Office of Personnel Management.
On Friday, Reuters covered that representatives of Musk locked career civil servants out of computer systems containing personal data and human resources files of millions of federal employees. The OPM was breached in 2015, an incident later attributed to China, which resulted in the theft of personnel records from over 22 million U.S. government workers, including individuals holding security clearances.
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