Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday questioned Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick over the access tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has to his competitors and business partners.
In a letter to Lutnick, Warren said DOGE has gained access to key government databases across several federal agencies.
She argued that such activities at the Commerce Department, which relies on being able to protect sensitive business confidential information, undermine public trust.
Warren warned this access could potentially provide Musk’s businesses with unfair advantages.
“Under the guise of cost-cutting and uncovering fraud, Elon Musk and his DOGE associates have moved across the federal government, demanding access to critical databases and IT systems, exfiltrating sensitive data to feed AI programs, and firing civil servants that stand in their way,” she wrote.
“Mr. Musk, meanwhile, even while serving as a Special Government Employee, continues to expand his business empire,” she added.
The letter also mentions the DOGE head’s ongoing business activities, including his interest in purchasing DeepAI, his partnership with Visa to penetrate the mobile payments market and his efforts to “influence” regulatory agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Labor Relations Board.
The letter further warns that allowing DOGE to access sensitive economic and technological data could “inadvertently” pose national security threats, such as cyberespionage or market manipulation.
“Mr. Musk, of course, is not the only one interested in the Commerce Department’s database,” Warren said.
“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its legions of state-sponsored hackers have gone to great lengths to break into our economic agencies and exfiltrate data on export controls and Sanctions,” the letter reads.
Musk and DOGE’s efforts to tap into databases across the government, which they say are meant to curb abuse and fraud in government payments, have faced pushback from several groups raising concerns about privacy and security risks.
DOGE is facing more than a dozen lawsuits as its staffers appear at agencies across the government, seeking to tap into databases covering federal payments, citizens’ Social Security numbers, financial information and more.
The Hill has reached out to DOGE.
