DOGE will keep limited access to Treasury payments system with 2 associates having ‘read-only’ view

Two Treasury Department employees affiliated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency will keep limited access to the highly sensitive payment system within the agency, following emergency court proceedings Wednesday that arose out of privacy concerns about DOGE’s access to the system.

Two Treasury Department employees affiliated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency will keep limited access to the highly sensitive payment system within the agency, following emergency court proceedings Wednesday that arose out of privacy concerns about DOGE’s access to the system. The Trump administration agreed to the limitation that the two Treasury employees have “read-only” access to the system and won’t share it with others working with DOGE, a new court filing said. A federal judge still must sign off on the proposal but signaled earlier in the day she would be willing to do so. The proposal would keep the status quo since DOGE sent two special government employees to the Treasury Department, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, who both came from tech jobs to Washington since Donald Trump took office. Unions representing federal workers had sued following reporting, including from CNN, that DOGE had sought access to the system that doles out $5 trillion in government payments a year. It also distributes crucial payments that deal with sensitive personal data of Americans, including for tax returns, Social Security and federal worker salaries. The next hearing in the case is set for the end of the month. During a hearing on the access earlier Wednesday, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the DC District Court tried to nail down how Musk and his DOGE team are accessing the department’s sensitive payments system.