Recent court filings have unveiled critical insights into Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during the Trump administration.
Marko Elez, a former DOGE staffer, who resigned over past racist tweets and breached data-sharing protocols, has been rehired to access sensitive data across several federal agencies.
Elez, an employee from the Department of Labor detailed to DOGE, is now working with multiple agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to a recent court filing.
This filing discloses the level of access Elez and other DOGE employees possess within secure databases, coinciding with federal judges noting potential legal violations tied to Musk’s efforts and the need for extensive data access.
The lawsuit from labor unions and nonprofits seeks further information regarding Trump administration staffers linked to DOGE.
U.S. District Judge John Bates has hesitated to halt DOGE’s activities within the Department of Labor and HHS but has mandated additional discovery into the operations of this White House entity.
From resigning to accessing more sensitive data
Elez’s resignation in early February came following the resurfacing of racist social media posts, yet Musk swiftly promised to reinstate him. An internal audit revealed Elez had improperly shared a spreadsheet containing personal identifying information with officials from the General Services Administration (GSA).
In a following case, Judge Jeannette Vargas restricted DOGE’s access to Treasury data, citing substantial risks of sensitive data being improperly shared outside federal regulations.
However, just four days post-restriction, Elez gained read-only access to four Labor Department databases, including unemployment insurance information, as part of a directive aimed at identifying waste and modernizing government technology.
By early March, Elez was authorized to access several HHS systems, encompassing Medicare and Medicaid databases. HHS eventually revoked his access to these sensitive databases.
Efforts to contact Elez have been unsuccessful.
The most in-depth look at DOGE’s access
Saturday’s filing provides a comprehensive overview of DOGE’s members and their data access privileges.
It highlights access details granted to DOGE staffers like Akash Bobba, who is among a small group with high-level access to Social Security Administration data, as well as records from the Office of Personnel Management and the Education Department.
New insights from the recent filing detail several key individuals, including Luke Farritor, who controls HHS system access, and Edward Coristine, linked to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The filing asserts that DOGE staff have not taken unauthorized actions regarding the systems they access.
A recent ruling by Judge Amy Berman Jackson has temporarily barred the Trump administration from dismantling DOGE, emphasizing the need to preserve the agency’s functionality and data integrity in the face of potential statutory violations.
A DOGE associate named Kyle Schutt has been granted access to the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) Portal as part of his role at GSA.
The White House has yet to respond to inquiries regarding DOGE’s compliance with privacy laws and the public’s concerns over the extent of its data access.
If you have information regarding DOGE’s access to government databases and IT systems, please reach out through secure communication methods.
