The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) must share records about its access to IT systems at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) according to an order issued by a Federal judge on Friday.
Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York delivered a sweeping preliminary injunction requiring that OPM within two weeks must report back to the court with processes and procedures it has used since March 6 to comply with the Privacy Act when granting access to its data systems.
The order comes after several unions serving Federal employees challenged DOGE’s access to OPM systems, alleging that OPM violated privacy laws by giving DOGE agents “unrestricted, wholesale access” to systems containing information on millions of current and former Federal employees without a legitimate reason for that access.
The suit also argued that the access posed a cybersecurity risk and that some DOGE agents allowed access to that information were not properly vetted under security processes.
Judge Cote’s “DOGE Access Report” will detail OPM’s permissions to access records containing personal information, and the training DOGE agents received when accessing those systems including the clearances they received.
It will also be required to include details on DOGE agents’ employment, including whether they work with OPM full time or whether they hold positions at other agencies.
A 99-page order from Judge Cote earlier this month in the same case restricted how OPM can share data with DOGE, with the Federal judge at the time writing that she had found “no credible need for this access had been demonstrated” by the government.
“This was a breach of law and of trust,” wrote the judge in her June 9 order. “Tens of millions of Americans depend on the Government to safeguard records that reveal their most private and sensitive affairs.”
At the time, Judge Cote directed both parties to submit proposals for the injunction by June 12.
Whie delivering her latest order, Judge Cote noted that other reviews of DOGE’s access to information systems at OPM are taking place, including one by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which is auditing DOGE’s access to systems at multiple agencies.
Another audit includes one by the OPM Office of Inspector General which annually determines compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act.