An audit has been launched by the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accessed sensitive data stored by the Bureau of Fiscal Service.
Beginning last month, DOGE sought access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems to “identify and eliminate inefficiencies,” which raised red flags and resulted in legal and legislative battles.
While accessing Treasury systems, DOGE employees had access to millions of Americans’ personal and financial information – including potentially classified data – through payment systems that manage trillions in transactions annually.
The audit will review the past two years of the systems’ transactions related to DOGE chief Elon Musk’s assertion of fraudulent payments, according to letters that were initially reported on by the Associated Press, and sent to House and Senate Democrats from Loren Sciurba, the Treasury’s deputy inspector general.
The investigation will also look at the “applicable payment system controls” that have been in place since Oct. 1, 2024.
The goals of the audit include determining the adequacy of controls for granting or restricting access to payment systems and controls that ensure payments are made legally. It also aims to follow up on DOGE’s allegations of “improper or fraudulent payments made by Fiscal Service.”
“Given the breadth of this effort, the audit will likely not be completed until August; however, we recognize the danger that improper access or inadequate controls can pose to the integrity of sensitive payment systems,” wrote Sciurba. “As such, if critical issues come to light before that time, we will issue interim updates and reports.”
Sciurba added that the Treasury’s watchdog expects to be able to respond to Democrats’ concerns as they begin their work and will work alongside the Government Accountability Office in their recently initiated similar review.
“Oversight Democrats were one of the first to throw the flag on this,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a statement about the investigation’s launch. “Elon Musk and DOGE can’t be allowed to creep on Americans’ most sensitive data as they operate in the shadows. This is an important step, and inspectors general must be free to pursue their investigations without interference.”
Following DOGE’s access to the Treasury’s systems, House Democrats introduced new legislation to prevent DOGE and Musk from accessing confidential data and systems, requiring that only properly qualified individuals with security clearances should be granted access to those systems, arguing that Musk’s team lacks those qualifications.
Most recently, DOGE has reportedly requested access to the IRS’s Integrated Data Retrieval System, which the agency uses to access taxpayer information, and has set up accounts for the IRS and the Securities and Exchange Commission for “finding and fixing waste, fraud, and abuse.”
