02/12/2025

Former Musk Associates are Assuming Key Government IT Roles

This could allow DOGE easier access to sensitive data

The Trump administration is replacing some of the nation’s top tech officials with Silicon Valley talent tied to Elon Musk and companies associated with Peter Thiel. This could make it easier for Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) engineers to gain access to sensitive government systems, sources and experts say.

Over the past few weeks, several Musk-aligned tech leaders have been installed as chief information officers (CIOs) at the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Energy. CIOs manage an agency's information technology and oversee access to sensitive databases and systems, including classified ones.

"Federal agency CIOs have authority over all agency asset management, which includes software used to monitor civil servant laptops and phones," a former Biden official with firsthand knowledge of a CIO's capabilities told WIRED. "CIO shops manage and control IT access to all agency databases and systems, and have oversight over all the IT contracts per FITARA [the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act]. They have lots of IT budget and head count that Musk might want to take over. In agencies, CIOs are functionally as powerful as OIGs [the Office of Inspectors General]."

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.