Washington court bars Musk's team from treasury access
The Washington Post reports that a court in Washington has restricted Elon Musk's team's access to the US Treasury's payment system after a complaint regarding a potential data protection violation.
The court decided to limit access for Elon Musk's team, known as DOGE, to the US Treasury's payment system in response to a complaint about a possible personal data protection breach. According to the "Washington Post", Musk's team accessed sensitive data belonging to millions of officials.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that DOGE employees are barred from accessing the central payment system, which manages pensions and benefits. Access has been suspended while a complaint from a pensioners' group is reviewed, according to CNN, Musk and his team accessed the system to stop foreign aid payments.
Concerns about security
Members of the DOGE team, including junior employees, accessed the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) database, which contains sensitive information about millions of federal employees. OPM employees are worried about potential misuse and hacking attempts, and they also have concerns about Musk's team's permissions and security credentials.
Musk's actions have concerned some close to Donald Trump, although Trump himself has praised Musk, claiming he acted with his approval. The project offering federal employees voluntary redundancy in exchange for eight months' salary has also been temporarily halted. Approximately 40,000 employees accepted the offer, which represents about 2% of federal officials.
