DOGE seeks access to highly sensitive taxpayer data at IRS
CNN
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to the Internal Revenue Service’s highly sensitive taxpayer data system, a source familiar with the move tells CNN.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to the Internal Revenue Service’s highly sensitive taxpayer data system, a source familiar with the move tells CNN. The IRS, which contains private data on millions of Americans’ tax returns, Social Security numbers and banking information, is the latest agency to be targeted by DOGE as it seeks to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce and root out what it characterizes as waste, fraud and abuse within the government. Gavin Kliger, a software engineer working under DOGE, is expected to be granted access to the system “imminently,” the source said. He will be based at the IRS for at least 120 days but had not yet been given approval as of 9 p.m. ET Sunday. “Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it,” White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told CNN in a statement. “DOGE will continue to shine a light on the fraud they uncover as the American people deserve to know what their government has been spending their hard earned tax dollars on.” Kliger will serve as a senior adviser to the acting IRS commissioner, though it’s still unclear exactly what the nature of his work at the agency will look like. Kliger has the proper security clearance and is expected to sign an agreement requiring that he maintains confidentiality with tax return information and destroys such materials upon leaving the IRS, the source added. The agreement is part of a broader memorandum of understanding currently being considered by the IRS that would give DOGE officials widespread access to the agency’s system, including the Integrated Data Retrieval System, or IDRS, which enables IRS employees to access specific taxpayer accounts and their bank information.
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