The acting inspector general of the personnel management office confirmed that the independent office investigates the question of whether “emerging threats” against sensitive information occurred following the Elon Musk Doches agent introducing rapid changes to the protected government networks.
“OPM OIG [office of the inspector general] Undertakes to provide independent and objective monitoring of OPM programs and operations, ”writes the interim inspector general, Norbert Vint, in a letter Dated March 7 to democratic legislators, adding that his office is not only legally required to examine the OPM security protocols, but regularly “developing risks”. The letter indicated that the office would fold the specific requests issued by Democratic legislators last month in its “existing work”, while initiating a “new commitment” on the potential risks of the agency associated with IT systems accessible or modified by the United States service.
Came, whose predecessor was dismissed by Trump in January, is half a dozen general inspectors of deputy Democrats exhorted On the Chamber Committee on Government Surveillance and Reform last month to investigate Wired and Other points of sale Regarding DOGE’s efforts to access a wide range of record systems that house some of the government’s most sensitive data, including personnel files on millions of civil servants and their families.
“We are deeply concerned about the fact that access to the unauthorized system can occur through the federal government and could constitute a major threat to the personal privacy of all Americans and the national security of our nation,” wrote Gerald Connolly, a democrat of classification of the supervisory committee, in a letter on February 6.
In addition to the OPM, the Democrats have put pressure for similar security assessments in five other agencies, notably in the Treasury Department, the General Services Administration, Small Business Administration, the American Agency for International Development and the Ministry of Education. However, came is the only childcare dog of one of the agencies named to have responded so far, a spokesman for the committee told Wired.
While in the minority in the Chamber and the Senate, the Democrats have little power to proceed with effective surveillance outside of formal hearings, which must be summoned by the Republicans. During its first mandate, the Trump Ministry of Justice published directives by informing executive agencies that they had no obligation to answer the questions of the Democrats.
The Republicans of Congress have engaged in little or no official surveillance of the work of Doge, rather opting rear channel With the billionaire on the impacts of his anti-personal crusade.
The executive decree establishing DOGE, signed by the president on his first day in power, asked the federal agencies to provide Musk agents with “full and rapid access” to all non -classified file systems in order to perform a purge on the level of the government of “fraud, waste and abuse”. It quickly became clear, however, that Doge’s staff, including many young engineers with direct links with Musk’s own companies, paid little attention to the main guarantees of confidentiality; Avoiding, for example, compulsory assessments of new technologies installed on protected government networks.
“Several of the concerns you have expressed in your letter addresses questions that the OPM OIG assesses within the framework of our annual IPM computer and financial systems exams, and we are planning to incorporate these concerns into these existing projects,” writes in the letter of March 7. “We have also just started a commitment to assess the risks associated with new and modified information systems at the OPM. We think that in the end, our new commitment will largely address many of your questions related to the integrity of OPM systems. »»
