The acting inspector general of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has confirmed that the independent office is looking into whether any “emerging threats” to sensitive data have surfaced due to the rapid changes introduced by Elon Musk’s DOGE operatives within protected government networks.
“The OPM OIG [Office of the Inspector General] is dedicated to delivering independent and objective oversight of OPM’s programs and activities,” writes acting inspector general Norbert Vint in a letter dated March 7 to Democratic lawmakers, noting that his office is legally obligated to scrutinize OPM’s security protocols and regularly does so based on “developing risks.” The letter indicated that the office would incorporate specific requests from Democratic lawmakers issued last month into its “ongoing work,” while also starting a “new engagement” regarding potential risks at the agency linked to computer systems that have been accessed or altered by the United States DOGE Service.
Vint, whose predecessor was dismissed by Trump in January, is one of several deputy inspectors general urged by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last month to investigate reports from WIRED and other sources about DOGE’s attempts to access a wide array of record systems housing some of the government’s most sensitive information, including personnel files for millions of government employees and their relatives.
“We are extremely worried that unauthorized system access may be happening throughout the federal government and could represent a significant threat to the personal privacy of all Americans, as well as to our national security,” Gerald Connolly, the ranking Democrat on the oversight committee, noted in a letter on February 6.
In addition to OPM, Democrats have called for similar security evaluations at five other agencies, including the Treasury Department, the General Services Administration, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of Education. However, as a committee spokesperson informed WIRED, Vint is the only watchdog from any of the mentioned agencies to have responded so far.
Although Democrats currently hold the minority in both the House and Senate, their ability to conduct meaningful oversight is limited outside of formal hearings, which must be organized by Republicans. During his first term, Trump’s Justice Department issued guidance indicating that executive agencies had no obligation to respond to inquiries from Democrats.
Congressional Republicans have shown little interest in providing formal oversight of DOGE’s operations, preferring to communicate informally with the billionaire regarding the effects of his anti-personnel initiatives.
The executive order that created DOGE, signed by the president on his first day in office, directed federal agencies to grant Musk’s operatives “full and prompt access” to all unclassified records systems to facilitate a government-wide clean-up of “fraud, waste, and abuse.” However, it soon became evident that DOGE’s personnel, many of whom are young engineers linked to Musk’s companies, were disregarding essential privacy safeguards; for example, they were bypassing mandatory assessments of new technologies implemented on protected government networks.
“Several of the concerns you raised in your letter relate to issues that the OPM OIG evaluates in our annual assessments of OPM’s IT and financial systems, and we intend to integrate those concerns into these ongoing projects,” Vint wrote in the March 7 letter. “We have also recently initiated an engagement to evaluate risks associated with new and modified information systems at OPM. We believe that, in the end, our new engagement will comprehensively address many of your inquiries regarding the integrity of OPM systems.”
