DOGE Accesses Federal Payroll System Over Objections of Career Staff

Members of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency gained access over the weekend to a payroll system that processes salaries for about 276,000 federal employees across dozens of agencies, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The move overruled objections from senior IT staff who feared it could compromise highly sensitive government personnel information, including by making it more vulnerable to terrorist cyberattacks, these people said.

By accessing the system, which is housed at the Interior Department, the DOGE workers now have visibility into sensitive employee information, such as Social Security numbers, and the ability to more easily hire and fire workers, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.

The DOGE workers had tried for about two weeks to obtain administrative access to the program, known as the Federal Personnel and Payroll System, the two people said. The dispute came to a head on Saturday, as the DOGE workers obtained the access and then placed two of the IT officials who had resisted them on administrative leave and under investigation, the people said.

The move follows other efforts by DOGE to gain entry to federal systems and databases, some of which have encountered resistance in the courts.

A spokeswoman for the Interior Department, Kathryn Martin, said Sunday in a statement, “We are working to execute the President’s directive to cut costs and make the government more efficient for the American people and have taken actions to implement President Trump’s Executive Orders.”