On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent granted Elon Musk and members of his DOGE team access to a system responsible for trillions of dollars in government payments, including Social Security checks and tax refunds.
According to multiple reports, David Lebryk, a longtime official who oversaw the Treasury and was reluctant to turn over the sensitive information to the richest man in the world and his associates, suddenly resigned on the same day Bessent handed the keys to Musk. By giving the team what Politico described as “read-only” access, DOGE can ostensibly hold transactions under a microscope and find ways to limit government spending.
On the other hand, critics are concerned about political appointees meddling in a system historically monitored by career civil servants without political affiliations and Musk and his allies being able to acquire information to aid their own business interests. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee, said, “I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”
As for the objective of efficiency, Musk made unsubstantiated claims on X that the Treasury Department has never denied a payment request and has paid fraudulent and terrorist groups. He promised to cancel millions of dollars’ worth of grants. The Bureau of Fiscal Service, the operator of the Treasury Department’s payment systems, has prevented $155 million in improper payments and helped recover $350 million.—DL