The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, has finally gained access to a federal payroll system known as the Federal Personnel and Payroll System over the weekend.
The New York Times reports that the payroll system processes salaries for about 276,000 federal workers across various government agencies.
The newspaper said that insiders revealed to it that Elon Musk and his team at DOGE had spent about two weeks trying to obtain administrative access to the system.
However, they gained the access despite warnings from senior staff about the potential risks.
The senior career officials, who work for the interior department issued the warning in a memo towards the end of last week where they highlighted how risky it was and the unusual nature of Elon Musk-led DOGE's request and the danger associated with granting it.
They had warned that granting such a level of access would allow them to be able to view highly sensitive personal information that is subject to controls under the Privacy Act. They also mentioned the risk of cybercrime.
They said that such access must not be granted to untrained individuals without formal qualifications, warning that the Department may experience significant failure.
On Friday, however, the federal employees reportedly asked the DOGE workers to deliver their memo to Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, for his signature, thereby assuming the legal responsibility for the associated risks.
However, Burgum reportedly never signed the memo.
An insider told the New York Times that the interior department officials granted at least two DOGE workers the access they had requested on Saturday.
Also, in a statement, a spokesperson for the interior department said: “We are working to execute the President’s directive to cut costs and make the government more efficient for the American people and have taken actions to implement President Trump’s Executive Orders.”;
