Federal agencies DOGE questions about what cost-cutting team is doing
(2025/09/26)
- Reference: 1758904264
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/09/26/senate_doge_report/
- Source link:
A trio of federal executive agencies targeted by DOGE cost-cutters either don't know or won't say what the group is doing inside their operations, according to a Senate investigation that concludes DOGE is acting without legal authority or oversight.
A [1]report , released on Thursday by Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, relies in part on whistleblower accounts and other information already surfaced about DOGE's activity at the [2]Social Security Administration (SSA), [3]Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and [4]General Services Administration (GSA), but it doesn't stop there. DOGE is a cost-cutting unit created by President Trump's executive order, and was led by Elon Musk before he and the president had a very public falling out.
In addition to compiling established DOGE grievances, Peters' report also asserts that leadership at the aforementioned agencies is actively stymying attempts to figure out what DOGE is doing.
[5]
"DOGE isn't making government more efficient—it's putting Americans' sensitive information in the hands of completely unqualified and untrustworthy individuals," Peters said in a press release. "The Trump Administration and agency leadership must immediately put a stop to these reckless actions that risk causing unprecedented chaos in Americans' daily lives."
[6]
[7]
Per the report, officials at the SSA, OPM, and GSA were "unable or unwilling" to answer a fundamental question about DOGE's authority, namely who at their agencies is in charge of significant policy changes. DOGE is supposed to serve as nothing but a presidential advisory body, the report explains, but is still involved in making significant [8]changes to data and systems at various agencies.
"Senior officials at SSA, GSA, and OPM all failed to provide information about who was in charge; what conduct DOGE teams were engaged in; and what data those teams had been given access to," the report claimed.
[9]
The GSA and OPM both simply denied the existence of DOGE teams within their agencies when asked during oversight trips to both agencies. The Social Security Administration also denied the existence of a DOGE team in an email to The Register, though in very specific terms.
"There are no DOGE employees at SSA, only SSA employees," an SSA spokesperson told us, leaving open the possibility that former DOGE staffers have been absorbed into the agencies they were assigned to, as has been previously [10]asserted by elected officials.
In addition to declining to identify DOGE affiliates at their agencies and failing to provide information about what DOGE has been doing inside their systems, the report also claimed that senior officials at all three agencies obstructed oversight efforts, including refusing to show Committee staff offices that DOGE had converted into bedrooms, refusing to provide access to Starlink infrastructure installed at agency facilities, and ignoring requests for follow-up visits.
[11]
Those circumstances, combined with whistleblower reports that assert DOGE is doing things like creating insecure copies of a key SSA database (which the SSA continues to [12]indirectly deny the existence of), have led Peters and his team to conclude what many have been asserting for some time: DOGE is a major security risk for the US government and its citizens.
"[DOGE is] bypassing cybersecurity protections, evading oversight, and putting Americans' personal data at risk," Peters said. "We cannot allow this shadow operation to continue operating unchecked while millions of people face the threat of identity theft, economic disruption, and permanent harm."
[13]DOGE may help Elon Musk's biz empire dodge $2.4B in liabilities – Senate probe
[14]Senator demands to know status of 'duplicate' Social Security database 'immediately'
[15]Musk's antics and distractions are backfiring as Tesla's car business stalls
[16]DOGE delayed deals, says Nutanix
The report recommends that agencies revoke DOGE access to personally identifiable information across the federal government and halt DOGE-related activities at SSA, GSA, and OPM until personnel can be properly vetted and integrated into the agencies' chains of command. It also advocates for agencies to release information about DOGE employees' data access privileges and ensure that DOGE employees are held to the same policy standards as other staff.
Additionally, the report requests that inspectors general at the three agencies conduct audits of access to all their sensitive data systems. The GSA may be one step ahead of Peters' team on that matter, as several DOGE activities, while not named specifically, are listed as priorities under the GSA Inspector General's FY 2026 [17]audit plan .
The GSA audit plan was released a day before the Peters report, but an agency spokesperson suggested it may still have accounted for the Senators' concerns while drafting it.
"The audits in our plan were developed after considering GSA's strategic goals and performance measures, legal and regulatory requirements, and issues raised by GSA management, as well as our own assessment of challenges and risks facing GSA," a spokesperson told us. "While our audit plan was developed prior to the publishing of the Peters report, we do consider information and requests made by Congress in developing our audit plan."
The OPM didn't respond to questions for this story. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/dems/peters-report-finds-that-doge-continues-to-operate-unchecked-likely-violating-federal-privacy-and-security-laws-and-putting-the-safety-of-americans-personal-information-in-danger/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/whistleblower_accuses_doge_of_duplicating/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/10/judge_doge_opm_records/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/29/18f_files_appeal_rif/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/10/doge_infosec_impact_court_order/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-blumenthal-garcia-launch-investigation-into-doge-employees-embedding-into-top-government-roles
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/17/ssa_denies_doge_whistleblower_claim/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/28/musk_doge_help_companies/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/11/ssa_doge_whistleblower_demand/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/03/elon_musk_tesla_deliveries_distraction/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/28/nutanix_q4_2025/
[17] https://www.gsaig.gov/content/fiscal-year-2026-audit-plan
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
A [1]report , released on Thursday by Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, relies in part on whistleblower accounts and other information already surfaced about DOGE's activity at the [2]Social Security Administration (SSA), [3]Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and [4]General Services Administration (GSA), but it doesn't stop there. DOGE is a cost-cutting unit created by President Trump's executive order, and was led by Elon Musk before he and the president had a very public falling out.
In addition to compiling established DOGE grievances, Peters' report also asserts that leadership at the aforementioned agencies is actively stymying attempts to figure out what DOGE is doing.
[5]
"DOGE isn't making government more efficient—it's putting Americans' sensitive information in the hands of completely unqualified and untrustworthy individuals," Peters said in a press release. "The Trump Administration and agency leadership must immediately put a stop to these reckless actions that risk causing unprecedented chaos in Americans' daily lives."
[6]
[7]
Per the report, officials at the SSA, OPM, and GSA were "unable or unwilling" to answer a fundamental question about DOGE's authority, namely who at their agencies is in charge of significant policy changes. DOGE is supposed to serve as nothing but a presidential advisory body, the report explains, but is still involved in making significant [8]changes to data and systems at various agencies.
"Senior officials at SSA, GSA, and OPM all failed to provide information about who was in charge; what conduct DOGE teams were engaged in; and what data those teams had been given access to," the report claimed.
[9]
The GSA and OPM both simply denied the existence of DOGE teams within their agencies when asked during oversight trips to both agencies. The Social Security Administration also denied the existence of a DOGE team in an email to The Register, though in very specific terms.
"There are no DOGE employees at SSA, only SSA employees," an SSA spokesperson told us, leaving open the possibility that former DOGE staffers have been absorbed into the agencies they were assigned to, as has been previously [10]asserted by elected officials.
In addition to declining to identify DOGE affiliates at their agencies and failing to provide information about what DOGE has been doing inside their systems, the report also claimed that senior officials at all three agencies obstructed oversight efforts, including refusing to show Committee staff offices that DOGE had converted into bedrooms, refusing to provide access to Starlink infrastructure installed at agency facilities, and ignoring requests for follow-up visits.
[11]
Those circumstances, combined with whistleblower reports that assert DOGE is doing things like creating insecure copies of a key SSA database (which the SSA continues to [12]indirectly deny the existence of), have led Peters and his team to conclude what many have been asserting for some time: DOGE is a major security risk for the US government and its citizens.
"[DOGE is] bypassing cybersecurity protections, evading oversight, and putting Americans' personal data at risk," Peters said. "We cannot allow this shadow operation to continue operating unchecked while millions of people face the threat of identity theft, economic disruption, and permanent harm."
[13]DOGE may help Elon Musk's biz empire dodge $2.4B in liabilities – Senate probe
[14]Senator demands to know status of 'duplicate' Social Security database 'immediately'
[15]Musk's antics and distractions are backfiring as Tesla's car business stalls
[16]DOGE delayed deals, says Nutanix
The report recommends that agencies revoke DOGE access to personally identifiable information across the federal government and halt DOGE-related activities at SSA, GSA, and OPM until personnel can be properly vetted and integrated into the agencies' chains of command. It also advocates for agencies to release information about DOGE employees' data access privileges and ensure that DOGE employees are held to the same policy standards as other staff.
Additionally, the report requests that inspectors general at the three agencies conduct audits of access to all their sensitive data systems. The GSA may be one step ahead of Peters' team on that matter, as several DOGE activities, while not named specifically, are listed as priorities under the GSA Inspector General's FY 2026 [17]audit plan .
The GSA audit plan was released a day before the Peters report, but an agency spokesperson suggested it may still have accounted for the Senators' concerns while drafting it.
"The audits in our plan were developed after considering GSA's strategic goals and performance measures, legal and regulatory requirements, and issues raised by GSA management, as well as our own assessment of challenges and risks facing GSA," a spokesperson told us. "While our audit plan was developed prior to the publishing of the Peters report, we do consider information and requests made by Congress in developing our audit plan."
The OPM didn't respond to questions for this story. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/dems/peters-report-finds-that-doge-continues-to-operate-unchecked-likely-violating-federal-privacy-and-security-laws-and-putting-the-safety-of-americans-personal-information-in-danger/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/whistleblower_accuses_doge_of_duplicating/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/10/judge_doge_opm_records/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/29/18f_files_appeal_rif/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/10/doge_infosec_impact_court_order/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-blumenthal-garcia-launch-investigation-into-doge-employees-embedding-into-top-government-roles
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aNcM50BEcGqeJ-wX_6ZvOwAAA0I&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/17/ssa_denies_doge_whistleblower_claim/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/28/musk_doge_help_companies/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/11/ssa_doge_whistleblower_demand/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/03/elon_musk_tesla_deliveries_distraction/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/28/nutanix_q4_2025/
[17] https://www.gsaig.gov/content/fiscal-year-2026-audit-plan
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
ecofeco
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken
Dimmer
Catch 22
So if there is no Doge team then there can’t be a report. If there is no report, nobody loses their job and no changes.
Or,
They are now employees and come under all the restrictions of any employee there. Including keeping your mouth shut when they find something.
If you are against Doge, it would be a positive thing.
We know
Spanners
We know what DOGE is doing. The biggest theft in history. Elons plan to keep out of jail is to go to Mars where there is no extradition treaty.
Re: We know
DS999
That's fine by me, life in his Mars colony would be worse than any prison.
I suppose if you wanted to take over a country as big as the US...
Tron
...this is how you would do it. Making Congress and the Senate irrelevant/powerless by the back door. Owning the supreme court. Vesting all power in the president. And have your puppet on the throne. So, who is pulling the strings?
Incidentally, the USG, being a presidency, doesn't have the structure of parliamentary democracies in many countries. US parties have little cohesion, particularly between elections. No shadow cabinet. No leader of the opposition v. the president. This makes presidential systems more prone to these sorts of coup. You get a lot of them in Africa.
In five year's time
Anonymous Coward
Will all our favourite DOGE bros start telling employers that they were in prison for drug dealing as the less damaging way to explain why they've left a blank on their résumé ?
Call me too cynical but I'm starting to believe the democrats are deliberately slow rolling the republican flood the zone response to shrug and say "nothing we can do innit?"