The Treasury division accessed by Doge handles payments of nearly $6 trillion for programs like Social Security, pays government salaries, and distributes money allotted by Congress. The access to the payment system was granted by incoming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent late Friday, the same day when a longtime Treasury official named David Lebryk was placed on administrative leave and suddenly retired, the New York Times reported. Lebryk had strongly resisted allowing "Musk's lieutenants into the department's payment system, which sends out money on behalf of the entire federal government". Typically, access to such a critical payment system is highly restricted to only a very few people.
"To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy," Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, wrote in a letter to Bessent. "I am concerned that mismanagement of these payment systems could threaten the full faith and credit of the United States," he wrote.
Just days after President Donald Trump announced its launch, Doge has fanned out to a number of U.S. government agencies with the stated mission of slashing federal spending. Musk helped set up the team in order to carry out this effort, bringing allies from his private companies and Silicon Valley to assist the process. Those efforts appear to be causing turmoil within agencies like the Treasury Department and USAID, which the South African-born tech titan has repeatedly attacked on social media. Two officials at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were also reportedly placed on leave after a standoff with Doge members over access. Musk's allies are continuing to cause turbulence at USAID, which distributes billions in aid around the world. The agency's website has not worked since Saturday and its X account appears to have been deactivated.
The Trump administration reportedly placed two senior security officials on administrative leave after they resisted Doge team members who arrived at the agency seeking access to a secure facility, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. Such facilities are used to store and share highly classified information and are often highly restricted.
Meanwhile, the federal workforce has been grappling with the multiple executive orders signed by Trump since taking office. Employees have received emails generated by Musk allies at the Office of Personnel Management, asking them to report their colleagues who are attempting to "disguise" diversity efforts, as well as an offer to federal employees to resign immediately and take eight months' pay as a "severance" -- an arrangement widely believed to be illegal.
Agencies have also scrambled to pull down references to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as transgender and LGBT individuals from their websites in order to comply with the executive orders. A raft of such information has disappeared from the website for the Centers for Disease Control. The critical health agency serves as a repository for vetted, reliable scientific and medical information for researchers, medical professionals, and everyday Americans. Now, links to information about LGBT health for adults and minors, as well as mpox vaccines, lead to broken pages.
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