Showing posts with label Doge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doge. Show all posts

Monday, February 3, 2025

The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover; Wired, February 2, 2025

 Vittoria Elliott, Wired; The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover

"The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.

The six men are one part of the broader project of Musk allies assuming key government positions. Already, Musk’s lackeys—including more senior staff from xAI, Tesla, and the Boring Company—have taken control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and General Services Administration (GSA), and have gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, potentially allowing him access to a vast range of sensitive information about tens of millions of citizens, businesses, and more. On Sunday, CNN reported that DOGE personnel attempted to improperly access classified information and security systems at the US Agency for International Development and that top USAID security officials who thwarted the attempt were subsequently put on leave. The Associated Press reported that DOGE personnel had indeed accessed classified material."

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Ethics watchdog issues conflict of interest warning to Musk’s Doge agency; The Guardian, January 23, 2025

, The Guardian ; Ethics watchdog issues conflict of interest warning to Musk’s Doge agency

"A leading ethics watchdog has issued warnings to Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk and the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), an agency Trump has stated he will create, claiming its use of encrypted messaging apps potentially violates the Federal Records Act (FRA).

American Oversight, which uses litigation to obtain public records and expose government misconduct, argues that Musk’s leadership of Doge raises “significant ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest”, given his business empire and the substantial impact that Doge could have on federal agencies.

The warnings stem from reports that members of Doge, which aims to carry out dramatic cuts to the US government, are using the encrypted messaging app Signal with an auto-delete feature, which could hinder the preservation of official records."