WASHINGTON ― Greater than two dozen Democratic senators on Thursday demanded that Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins deny Elon Musk and his surrogates on the Division of Authorities Effectivity entry to tens of millions of veterans’ non-public data.
“Today, we call on you to immediately secure any personal and related information regarding veterans provided by VA or other agencies to Elon Musk and associates under the auspices of the ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’” reads a letter to Collins led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), the highest Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee.
“Further, we call on you to deny and sever their access to any VA or other government system that includes information about veterans, and to require them to immediately and permanently delete any information in their possession,” mentioned the senators.
Their letter comes two days after DOGE staffers have been hanging round on the Division of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C., prompting considerations that they be meddling within the non-public information of navy veterans and company workers. The Trump administration is at present being sued for allegedly letting DOGE staff entry federal workers’ private data at different businesses.
Right here’s a duplicate of the senators’ letter to Collins:
A spokesperson for the Division of Veterans Affairs confirmed to HuffPost that there’s a DOGE worker now working at its headquarters however mentioned this individual received’t be capable of entry veterans’ information.
“VA has one DOGE employee, who is specifically focused on identifying wasteful contracts, improving VA operations and strengthening management of the department’s IT projects,” VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz mentioned in an announcement. “The DOGE employee will be solely focused on improving VA performance and efficiency and will not have access to Veterans’ or VA beneficiaries’ data.”
“VA looks forward to working with DOGE to improve services to Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors,” Kasperowicz added.
Musk has been main DOGE since President Donald Trump introduced its creation late final 12 months, with the acknowledged objective of reducing prices throughout the federal authorities and rooting out fraud. However up to now, Musk and his crew at DOGE, which Trump designated as a alternative for the U.S. Digital Service, have been continuing recklessly, politically and probably illegally.
The Trump administration is dealing with at the very least two lawsuits after it granted DOGE staffers entry to very large quantities of non-public data in governmental databases. Musk, the world’s richest man, is working as a “special government employee,” a designation that lets him work for 130 days with out being topic to sure ethics and disclosure guidelines.
Final week, federal workers on the Workplace of Personnel Administration sued the federal government for permitting Musk to put in a non-public server on the company and entry delicate data with out being vetted or authorized. OPM’s methods embody private data for tens of tens of millions of present and former federal staff.
In one other Monday lawsuit, union teams sued the Treasury Division for giving DOGE staff “full access” to the federal government’s cost methods. These methods embody the private information of tens of millions of individuals, together with names, Social Safety numbers, birthdates, birthplaces, dwelling addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and checking account data.
Amid the lawsuits, Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee appealed instantly to Trump’s chief of employees, Susie Wiles, with warnings that DOGE is creating critical nationwide dangers by permitting unvetted, 20-something-year-old staffers to realize entry to extremely delicate authorities data.
The letter to Collins on Thursday is an effort to stop DOGE from getting this type of entry to veterans’ information.
“Our nation’s veterans have entrusted their health records, including genetic samples, disability data, bank information, and other private information, to VA,” mentioned the senators. “Veterans risked their lives to defend our country, and they deserve better than to have an unelected billionaire reviewing their medical records, targeting the benefits they have earned, or using their private information for personal gain.”
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Different senators who signed the letter to Collins embody Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Veterans Affairs Committee members Patty Murray (Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Tammy Duckworth (Ailing.).
