DOGE has access to systems containing taxpayers’ and government benefit recipients’ personal details, including names, addresses, bank information, and other sensitive data.
A coalition of labor organizations representing federal workers and retirees has filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Treasury, aiming to prevent it from granting the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—controlled by Elon Musk—access to the federal government’s sensitive payment systems.
According to The New York Times, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved DOGE workers’ access to the system last week after ousting a security official who opposed the decision. Despite its official-sounding name, DOGE is not an actual government department but rather an ad-hoc group created by President Trump, allegedly to reduce government spending.
The labor organizations behind the lawsuit, filed on Monday, argue that Bessent violated federal privacy and tax confidentiality laws by allowing unauthorized DOGE personnel—including non-government employees like Musk—to access private financial information belonging to taxpayers and federal aid recipients.
The lawsuit alleges that DOGE representatives, with their access to Treasury systems, could potentially view sensitive personal information—including names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, mailing and email addresses, and bank details—of tens of millions of individuals receiving tax refunds, Social Security and disability payments, veterans benefits, or federal salaries.
“The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented,” states the complaint, which was filed by the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees, and the Service Employees International Union.
While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly assured Republican lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that Elon Musk and DOGE do not have direct control over the payment systems, other members of Congress and multiple news reports suggest that DOGE representatives at least have the ability to view data. Additionally, Musk himself claimed on X that DOGE was “rapidly shutting down these illegal payments” to Lutheran organizations that receive federal funds for social services.
The lawsuit argues that federal law prohibits the disclosure of taxpayer data to anyone other than Treasury employees who require it for official duties—unless explicitly authorized by law, which DOGE’s access is not. Furthermore, the complaint states that this access violates the Privacy Act of 1974, which restricts the release of personal information to unauthorized individuals and establishes strict guidelines for modifying access—guidelines that the Trump administration has allegedly ignored.
The plaintiffs are requesting that the Washington, D.C. district court issue an injunction to block unauthorized access to the Treasury’s payment systems and declare the Treasury’s actions unlawful.