People working with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency are exposing sensitive Education Department data to artificial intelligence systems that have not been vetted for this use.
The Washington Post reports that DOGE (which is an advisory commission, not a real department) sent the data to Microsoft’s Azure cloud system as part of a process to identify the Education Department’s disbursements. President Donald Trump has said he wants to destroy the department, and attacking the payments is apparently a step toward that goal.
Azure’s system has not been designed to secure the type of data that DOGE is feeding it and could be subject to theft during a cyberattack. Furthermore, AI systems frequently produce wrong and inaccurate results that are presented as factual assertions—meaning that decisions made based on this AI output could be based on nonsense. (Such “hallucinations” have long plagued AI.)
The Post reports the DOGE team has also gained access to personal information from millions of Americans who are part of the vast student loan system. There are no known third-party safety systems or guardrails to ensure that this information remains secure and private.
Similarly, DOGE team members have reportedly bullied their way into the Treasury Department’s sensitive payment system, which administers trillions of dollars flowing through the federal government. Again, there are no known guidelines on how this information, which previously was limited to a very select group of people, is being used and secured.
“They’ve burrowed into the private information of every American, something we should all be alarmed about and should be blocked in federal courts,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said in a CNN interview on Thursday.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware
Rep. Lori Trahan, Democrat of Massachusetts, also noted, “Donald Trump has handed control of people's personal, financial and health information over to his billionaire donor, Elon Musk. This is corruption plain and simple.”
A coalition of labor unions has sued Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his department in an attempt to block DOGE’s wild behavior. On Thursday, a federal judge partially blocked DOGE from getting their hands on some of the information.
Yet, despite the concerns about data security and Musk’s haphazard approach to federal agencies (enabled by Trump), congressional Republicans are providing cover for the richest person in the world. They blocked a Democratic effort to compel Musk to testify about his actions.
“It's a puzzling role for many people, certainly on this side of the aisle, and I think for some on yours, who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement and have sweeping changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight or concurrence,” Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in response to the Republican maneuver.
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