Did you think that your Social Security number was kept secret by the federal government through rigorous security measures?
Well, think again, because Trump's billionaire buddy, Elon Musk, has allowed six 19 to 25 year old dudes access to the Treasury Department's payment system that has sensitive information which, until now, was closely guarded.
WIRED has a bombshell story about this by Vittoria Elliott, "The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover." Excerpt:
Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college. Most have connections to Musk, and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chair of the analytics firm and government contractor Palantir who has long expressed opposition to democracy.
WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer.
The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.
The six men are one part of the broader project of Musk allies assuming key government positions. Already, Musk’s lackeys—including more senior staff from xAI, Tesla, and the Boring Company—have taken control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and General Services Administration (GSA), and have gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, potentially allowing him access to a vast range of sensitive information about tens of millions of citizens, businesses, and more.
On Sunday, CNN reported that DOGE personnel attempted to improperly access classified information and security systems at the US Agency for International Development and that top USAID security officials who thwarted the attempt were subsequently put on leave. The Associated Press reported that DOGE personnel had indeed accessed classified material.
Yahoo News has a photo of the six men in a disturbing Daily Beast story about their lack of training and experience, "Unmasked: Musk's Secret Goon Squad -- Who Are All Under 26."
One is a 19-year-old college freshman and heir to a popcorn fortune. Another was hosting Model UN sessions in 2019 and a third was given money by his parents to invest in stocks while at his high school in Silicon Valley.
...Three do not even have degrees. And one who does is trying to cash in on his new job by charging people to read his Substack entry which boasts, “Why DOGE: Why I gave up a seven-figure salary to save America.”
...The group’s relative lack of experience—especially no previous positions in government work—has Democrats crying foul they were granted access to sensitive records while remaining largely in the shadows, away from public scrutiny.
All six desperately tried to cover their digital tracks recently, almost all of them deleting LinkedIn profiles, X accounts and even Facebook.
So these six guys, all of whom are just fine with them being able to know the Social Security numbers of hundreds of millions of Americans, suddenly become all secretive when their identities are released to the public -- an amazing display of hypocrisy, but par for the course in Trumpland.
An ABC News story, "Treasury Dept. gives Elon Musk's team access to federal payment system: Sources," describes how outrageous this action is. Nothing like it has ever happened before.
The Treasury Department has given Elon Musk and representatives of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team access to the vast federal payment system responsible for handling trillions of dollars in government expenditures, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The payment system -- which is essentially a checkbook for the entire federal government -- is a closely held operation run by career officials, with a limited number of people authorized to access the information given it contains sensitive information about hundreds of millions of Americans.
Senate Democrats in a fiery news conference on Monday said they were "pulling the fire alarm" to warn about the dangers posed by DOGE and Elon Musk's access to Treasury's payments system.
..."Donald Trump basically handed DOGE the Social Security data of virtually every American citizen," Schumer said. "Donald Trump gave DOGE access to America's personal tax refund data. He gave DOGE access to peoples Medicare and Medicaid benefits, disability payment data, veteran benefit data."
Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said people are "creeped out" by the data access.
"Musk has access to personal information of hundreds of millions of American bank accounts, tax data, Social Security numbers, home addresses. People are creeped out," Wyden said. "The Musk hatchet brigade has infiltrated a gold mine of data that every foreign spy and every corrupt actor would love to see. It is a prescription for nightmares."
I find it hard to believe that this is what those who voted for Trump last November wanted to have happen after he became president again.
Hopefully Republicans as well as Democrats will let the White House know that strengthening our southern border and reducing grocery prices is one thing, but giving 19-25 year olds with no security clearances or government experience access to the Social Security numbers of most Americans is a whole other thing.
I thought you were concerned about government waste?
If you’re more angry that a handful of 22-year-old software engineers are writing code to uncover fraudulent government spending than at the people who are fraudulently spending your hard-earned taxes, it’s time to do some soul searching.
Posted by: sant64 | February 04, 2025 at 11:17 AM