Treasury: DOGE will have 'read-only' access to federal payment systems

After people working for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reportedly sought to gain access to a sensitive federal payment system, the Treasury Department is saying that a review of the system is underway and that staff members will have “read-only” access to the information.

Staff, working with a Treasury employee named as Tom Krause, will have access to payment system data, a letter from an unnamed Treasury official sent out Tuesday reads. 

The letter describes Krause as “a longtime technology executive” with “experience in building companies and managing balance sheets” and notes that he will be given a top-secret security clearance.

“Treasury staff members working with Tom Krause, a Treasury employee, will have read-only access to the coded data of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems in order to continue this operational efficiency assessment,” the letter says. 

Krause is further described by Treasury as an “expert/consultant” hired as a “special government employee.”

The payment system, known as the Fiscal Service, handles about 90 percent of all federal payments comprising 1.2 billion transactions a year, including Social Security and Medicare payments.

The review of the Fiscal Service hasn’t resulted in any delayed or suspended payment, the Treasury official said.

The attempt to access the system led to the resignation of longtime Treasury official David A. Lebryk, The Washington Post reported Friday, leading to fears that DOGE was interfering in core governmental functions.

The access attempt has led to at least one lawsuit.

“The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented,” the Public Citizen Litigation Group, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the Service Employees International Union said in a complaint filed in a District of Columbia federal court on Saturday.

“People who must share information with the federal government should not be forced to share information with Elon Musk or his ‘DOGE,’” the complaint says.