Across the federal government, Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has gained access to untold volumes of data containing the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans. The data includes information like addresses, tax filings, family members, and medical records for everyone from average citizens receiving Social Security benefits, to millions of current and past federal employees, and applicants for government jobs, as well as judges who hear disputes between government agencies, companies, and everyday Americans.
Exactly what DOGE is doing with all this data seems to be an open question, according to court filings reviewed by Rolling Stone and American Doom [Glawe’s substack]. Those filings show that lawyers representing Donald Trump’s administration have failed to explain why DOGE needs the data. And even the simple fact that DOGE has access to this data appears to represent a blatant and widespread violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, according to plaintiffs in a slew of lawsuits directed at DOGE’s work inside the government.
The Trump administration appears to have found something of a workaround for Privacy Act concerns by technically classifying some DOGE employees as working for government agencies.
“It goes back to why the Privacy Act exists in the first place — to prevent someone in the government like the president from accessing data to create an enemies list or effectuate a mass firing of employees who aren’t loyal,” says Rhett Millsaps of Lex Lumina, a law firm that is representing several groups in their lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against OPM over DOGE’s access to agency data. “It’s not just about information that’s shared outside of the agency, the Privacy Act even restricts within an agency who can access the data to those who need to know.”
Like DOGE’s access to government data, the “Information Silos” executive order is another violation of the Privacy Act, according to Millsaps.
“The president can’t just say, ‘Well everyone has to share data.’ The Privacy Act prohibits that,” Millsaps says. “The president is obviously just trying to get around the law. He’s clearly just trying to rule by fiat. It’s an unprecedented assault on the rule of law in our country.”
MILLSAP’S LAWSUIT — filed with the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of the AFL-CIO, the Association of Administrative Law Judges, and others — is just one of several lawsuits alleging DOGE is actively violating the Privacy Act by accessing Americans’ personal information.
“They’re not people who have Americans’ best interest at heart,” Millsaps said of Coristine and other DOGE staffers. “They’re people who have the best interest of Elon Musk at heart.”
Millsaps is among those who are openly calling attention to the potential that DOGE’s data gathering is part of a list-making project by the Trump administration — lists of anyone who opposes Trump and his policies.
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