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    RobF

    RobF

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    I think this topic deserves its own thread, both to discuss generally the topic of government efficiency, and specifically the so-called 'Department of Government Efficiency' and the incoming Trump administration's aims to "dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies".

    The announcements have been covered in the The Trump Cabinet and key post thread, but to recap, Trump has announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will work together on a not-actually-an-official-government-Department of Government Efficiency, which is intended to work with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to "drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before," with the 'Department' to conclude its work "no later than July 4, 2026."

    Musk has previously said that the federal budget could be reduced by "at least $2 trillion", and Ramaswarmy, during his presidential campaign, said he would fire more than 75% of the federal work force and disband agencies including the Department of Education and the FBI.
     
    SFIDC3 said:
    This is an absolute data breach and clearly illegal, if there are no consequences for this then the federal govt is truly lost.....
    Click to expand...
    Everyone is the US gets 2 free years of credit protection courtesy of the US government.
     

    Trump ordered cooperation with DOGE​

    The Trump executive order establishing DOGE took the existing United States Digital Service and renamed it the United States DOGE Service. It's part of the Executive Office of the President and is tasked with "modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."

    Trump's order said that federal agencies will have to collaborate with DOGE. "Among other things, the USDS Administrator shall work with Agency Heads to promote inter-operability between agency networks and systems, ensure data integrity, and facilitate responsible data collection and synchronization," the order said. "Agency Heads shall take all necessary steps, in coordination with the USDS Administrator and to the maximum extent consistent with law, to ensure USDS has full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems. USDS shall adhere to rigorous data protection standards."

    The Post writes that "Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the US government, installing longtime surrogates at several agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, which essentially handles federal human resources, and the General Services Administration."

    On Thursday, Musk visited the General Services Administration headquarters in Washington, DC, The New York Times reported. The Department of Government Efficiency's account on X stated earlier this week that the GSA had "terminated three leases of mostly empty office space" for a savings of $1.6 million and that more cuts are planned. In another post, DOGE claimed it "is saving the Federal Government approx. $1 billion/day, mostly from stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations, all consistent with the President's Executive Orders."

    "Mr. Musk's visit to the General Services Administration could presage more cost-cutting efforts focused on federal real estate," the Times wrote. "The agency also plays a role in federal contracting and in providing technology services across the federal government."

    arstechnica.com

    Treasury official retires after clash with DOGE over access to payment system

    Longtime official retires after clash “over access to sensitive payment systems.”…
    arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

    This looks like an Enterprise Audit and the Federal Government is the Enterprise.
     
    Staffers with Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly entered the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Department of Commerce in Washington DC today, inciting concerns of downsizing at the agency.

    “They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former Noaa official who is now a fellow at the University of New Hampshire. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information.”

    Project 2025, written by several former Trump staffers, has called for the agency to be “broken up and downsized”, claiming the agency is “harmful to US prosperity” for its role in climate science.

    Rosenberg noted it had been a longtime goal of corporations that rely on Noaa data to prevent the agency from making the data public, instead of giving it directly to private corporations that create products based on it, such as weather forecasting services.

    He also argued there was no legal authority to abolish Noaa or reduce its budget, outside of reducing it through Congress.............

    “There’s no real transparency. They just show up wherever they want, do whatever they want. They’re following through on major budget cuts and major staffing cuts,” Rosenberg added. “I think the strategy here is: ‘Well, we’re just going to do it and dare somebody to stop us, and by the time they stop us, we’ll have destroyed it.’”..............

    www.theguardian.com

    Doge staffers enter Noaa headquarters and incite reports of cuts and threats

    Members reportedly sought access to IT systems at agency that Project 2025 has called ‘harmful to US prosperity’
    www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
     
    “
    WASHINGTON (AP) — A Treasury Department official wrote a letter Tuesday to federal lawmakers saying that a tech executive working with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency will have “read-only access” to the government’s payment system.

    The official sent the letter out of concerns from members of Congress that DOGE’s involvement with the payment system for the federal government could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Lawmakers are also concerned that Musk, an unelected citizen, wields too much power within the U.S. government and states blatantly on his social media platform that DOGE will shut down payments to organizations.

    DOGE, a Trump administration task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, has raised concerns about its intentions and overruling of career officials at multiple agencies. Democratic lawmakers have voiced frustration over the lack of transparency and public accountability, saying that Musk’s people might illegally withhold payments to suit their political agenda.”


    apnews.com

    Treasury tells Congress that DOGE has ‘Read Only’ access to payment systems

    A Treasury Department official has written a letter to federal lawmakers saying that a tech executive working with Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” will have “read-only access” to the government’s payment system.
    apnews.com apnews.com
     
    Sendai said:
    “
    WASHINGTON (AP) — A Treasury Department official wrote a letter Tuesday to federal lawmakers saying that a tech executive working with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency will have “read-only access” to the government’s payment system.

    The official sent the letter out of concerns from members of Congress that DOGE’s involvement with the payment system for the federal government could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Lawmakers are also concerned that Musk, an unelected citizen, wields too much power within the U.S. government and states blatantly on his social media platform that DOGE will shut down payments to organizations.

    DOGE, a Trump administration task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, has raised concerns about its intentions and overruling of career officials at multiple agencies. Democratic lawmakers have voiced frustration over the lack of transparency and public accountability, saying that Musk’s people might illegally withhold payments to suit their political agenda.”


    apnews.com

    Treasury tells Congress that DOGE has ‘Read Only’ access to payment systems

    A Treasury Department official has written a letter to federal lawmakers saying that a tech executive working with Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” will have “read-only access” to the government’s payment system.
    apnews.com apnews.com
    Click to expand...
    That’s been contradicted by other sources.

    Anyway, I don’t want Musk having access to payment data for hundreds of millions of people and corporations, some of which are direct competitors with his own businesses in commerce with the federal government.

    This is all as unethical as hell.
     
    From Sendai’s article - Musk himself is claiming to have altered the payment data. Specifically to shut down government payments to a Lutheran charity. So why should we believe some anonymous “treasury official” about anything?

    “However, some Democrats are not convinced about the notion that DOGE, Musk and Krause have read-only access.

    “Some Republicans are trying to suggest that Musk only has ‘viewing access’ to Treasury’s highly sensitive payment system as if that’s acceptable either,” said Sen. Patty Murray, (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement.

    “But why on earth should we believe that — particularly when he is saying the exact opposite loudly and repeatedly for everyone to see?”

    For instance, Musk has tweeted on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that DOGE has shut down payments to a Lutheran charity. “The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk said on X, adding that DOGE is “rapidly shutting down” payments to the charity.”
     
    MT15 said:
    From Sendai’s article - Musk himself is claiming to have altered the payment data. Specifically to shut down government payments to a Lutheran charity. So why should we believe some anonymous “treasury official” about anything?

    “However, some Democrats are not convinced about the notion that DOGE, Musk and Krause have read-only access.

    “Some Republicans are trying to suggest that Musk only has ‘viewing access’ to Treasury’s highly sensitive payment system as if that’s acceptable either,” said Sen. Patty Murray, (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement.

    “But why on earth should we believe that — particularly when he is saying the exact opposite loudly and repeatedly for everyone to see?”

    For instance, Musk has tweeted on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that DOGE has shut down payments to a Lutheran charity. “The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk said on X, adding that DOGE is “rapidly shutting down” payments to the charity.”
    Click to expand...
    Yep, reading is hard for some people.
     
    MT15 said:
    That’s been contradicted by other sources.

    Anyway, I don’t want Musk having access to payment data for hundreds of millions of people and corporations, some of which are direct competitors with his own businesses in commerce with the federal government.

    This is all as unethical as hell.
    Click to expand...
    The article contradicts what the official says. It’s an interesting article on the topic. That’s why I posted it.
     
    MT15 said:
    That’s been contradicted by other sources.

    Anyway, I don’t want Musk having access to payment data for hundreds of millions of people and corporations, some of which are direct competitors with his own businesses in commerce with the federal government.

    This is all as unethical as hell.
    Click to expand...

    What other earthly moron thinks....."Oh, it's only access to the most sensitive personal data of everyone and anyone that has ever received a Treasury disbursement"......the fact (even if true) that it is read-only access by folks that don't have the proper clearance/authorizations to see it is a federal crime.....if they are not prosecuted this country is lost....
     
    Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), suggested that The Wall Street Journal reporter responsible for uncovering a DOGE employee’s racist tweets should be fired on Friday.

    In a story published on Thursday, the Journal‘s Katherine Long revealed that a “key DOGE staff member who gained access to the Treasury Department’s central-payments system resigned Thursday after he was linked to a deleted social-media account that advocated racism and eugenics.”

    From Long’s report:

    Marko Elez, a 25-year-old who is part of a cadre of Elon Musk lieutenants deployed by the Department of Government Efficiency to scrutinize federal spending, resigned after The Wall Street Journal asked the White House about his connection to the account.
    “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool,” the account posted in July, according to the Journal’s review of archived posts.
    “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” the account wrote on X in September. “Normalize Indian hate,” the account wrote the same month, in reference to a post noting the prevalence of people from India in Silicon Valley.
    After the Journal inquired about the account, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that Elez had resigned from his role.
    Click to expand...
    Now that Elez has been removed from his post at DOGE, Musk appears to be on a mission to punish Long for discovering his foul views.

    Replying to a tweet pointing out that Long had once been the author of a piece headlined “The Videogame Industry Still Needs to Reckon with Its Lack of Diversity,” the billionaire asserted that “She’s a disgusting and cruel person.”..........

    www.mediaite.com

    Elon Musk Demands Firing of ‘Disgusting and Cruel’ WSJ Reporter Who Uncovered DOGE Employee’s Racist Tweets

    Elon Musk suggested that The Wall Street Journal reporter responsible for uncovering a DOGE employee's racist tweets should be fired on Friday.
    www.mediaite.com www.mediaite.com



     

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