Former Treasury Secretaries sound alarm over DOGE access
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A demonstrator holds up a sign during a rally in front of the U.S. Treasury Department in protest of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency on Feb. 4 in Washington, DC. Photo: Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images
Five former Treasury secretaries warned in a New York Times op-ed Monday that the Department of Government Efficiency's access to the nation's payment system could subject "highly sensitive data" to the "risk of exposure."
The big picture: DOGE's reported entry this month into the Bureau of Fiscal Services payment systems, essentially the government's checkbook, sparked mass concern about the safety of sensitive data and ability to restrict federal funds.
- A federal judge on Thursday signed an order temporarily limiting the Elon Musk-led office's access to sensitive Treasury information to just two individuals with "read-only" access to the data.
- "The nation's payment system has historically been operated by a very small group of nonpartisan career civil servants," the secretaries wrote.
- They continued: "In recent days, that norm has been upended, and the roles of these nonpartisan officials have been compromised by political actors" from DOGE.
Driving the news: While the "significant data privacy, cybersecurity and national security threats are gravely concerning," the Treasury secretaries wrote, the constitutional concerns they hold are "perhaps even more alarming."
- The secretaries who penned the piece — Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew and Janet Yellen — all served under Democratic presidents.
- None of the living GOP Treasury secretaries — including Steve Mnuchin, who was Treasury Secretary during Trump's first term — signed on.
- "We take the extraordinary step of writing this piece because we are alarmed about the risks of arbitrary and capricious political control of federal payments, which would be unlawful and corrosive to our democracy," they wrote.
- They noted that they were never directed to "stop congressionally appropriated funds from being paid out in full," noting that such action, had not been "contemplated" since the Nixon administration.
State of play: No Treasury secretary who just assumed office should have to "reassure the nation" of the "integrity of our payments system" and commitment to pay out financial obligations, they wrote. Newly confirmed Secretary Scott Bessent has had to do just that, they added.
- Bessent told Bloomberg last week there has been no "tinkering" with the system amid the Musk-led audit and that the employees given access to data are on read-only status and can make no changes.
- He added that his staff has not tried to block any payments.
- In an early February letter to lawmakers, the Treasury Department assured the review "is not resulting in the suspension or rejection of any payment instructions submitted to Treasury by other federal agencies across the government."
What they're saying: "We hope this commitment stands," the secretaries wrote, noting the essential nature of the Treasury's disbursement of federal funds, from Social Security checks to veteran benefits.
- They cautioned: "People often rely on these funds for survival, making any risk of their cutoff or delay existential."
Go deeper: Trump says he's instructing Treasury to "stop producing new pennies"
