Advocacy groups and labor unions have filed lawsuits over DOGE’s potential unauthorized access to sensitive Treasury payment systems, and five former treasury secretaries have sounded the alarm on the risks associated with Musk’s DOGE accessing sensitive Treasury Department payment systems and potentially stopping congressionally authorized payments.
The Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General on Friday said it was launching an audit of the security controls for the federal government's payment system, after Democratic senators raised red flags about the access provided to Trump aide Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency team.
Earlier this week, the Treasury declined to brief a pair of the highest-ranking lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee, including Wyden, on the ongoing controversy related to DOGE's use of Treasury payment systems, citing ongoing litigation.
The audit will also review the past two years of the system's transactions as it relates to Musk's assertion of “alleged fraudulent payments,” according to a letter from Loren J. Sciurba, Treasury’s deputy inspector general, that was obtained by The Associated Press.
“Your lack of candor about these events is deeply troubling given the threats to the economy and the public from DOGE’s meddling, and you need to provide a clear, complete, and public accounting of who accessed the systems, what they were doing, and why they were doing it,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote in their letter.
