All right, you can have one: DOGE access to Treasury IT OK'd judge

Login green-lit for lone staffer if he’s trained, papered up, won’t pull an Elez

A federal judge has partly lifted an injunction against Elon Musk's Trump-blessed cost-trimming DOGE unit, allowing one staff member to access sensitive US Treasury payment systems. This access includes personally identifiable financial information tied to millions of Americans.

Judge Jeanette Vargas, who issued a preliminary injunction [PDF] in February halting DOGE's access to the Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS) systems, reversed course late Friday in a New York City hearing — but only for one DOGE staffer.

In her order [PDF], Vargas said Ryan Wunderly can be granted access provided he completes the required hands-on training and files a financial disclosure report. Wunderly replaced former DOGE tech specialist Marko Elez, who left the team in February after being linked to a racist Twitter account. Elez was also accused of emailing an unencrypted Treasury database containing people's private information to two Trump administration officials, while rifling through the department's IT systems.

In her February order, Vargas barred the DOGE team from accessing Treasury systems holding sensitive financial data, citing the political unit's "chaotic and haphazard" approach to probing government bodies, and calling the Treasury Department's decision to grant initial access to DOGE operatives "arbitrary and capricious."

But with the above hurdles cleared, Wunderly will be able to access BFS databases of personally identifiable information, aka PII, of US citizens – including Social Security numbers, birth dates, and bank account details.

Judge Vargas had earlier indicated the injunction could be modified or lifted if the Trump administration fixed the "procedure defects" around protecting confidential information. In her latest order, she found that those concerns had been sufficiently addressed, as described, at least for one DOGE staffer.

The new order allows Wunderly access to "Treasury Department payment records, payment systems, and any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees."

Referring back to the February injunction, Vargas explained her earlier ruling was driven by the Treasury Department's failure to properly vet and train DOGE members, the ambiguity around who they reported to, the lack of clarity about their hiring authority, and inadequate safeguards to protect sensitive financial data.

"The government's extensive submissions … largely alleviate those concerns," Vargas wrote in the April decision. 

DOGE has been the subject of multiple lawsuits with regard to its access to personal data held in government systems. Courts in Washington, DC and Maryland have issued rulings temporarily blocking DOGE from accessing PII belonging to plaintiffs.

The unit is run by SpaceX oligarch and President Trump's éminence grease Elon Musk, who last week admitted his team is likely to cut just $150 billion of federal government spending, rather than the trillion-plus promised. Uncle Sam spends about $7 trillion a year, so DOGE is looking at trimming about two percent of that. ®

Speaking of DOGE... A whistleblower claims that when DOGE aides showed up at the US employment watchdog – the National Labor Relations Board – there was a spike in data leaving the organization's network. It is feared that information included sensitive records on unions, details of ongoing legal battles, and other secrets that shouldn't leave the agency.