Armed Guards and Muscle Milk: Senate Investigation Reveals DOGE Takeover Details

“DOGE isn’t making authorities much efficient—it’s putting Americans’ delicate accusation successful nan hands of wholly unqualified and untrustworthy individuals,” said Gary Peters, a Democratic US legislator from Michigan and ranking personnel of HSGAC, successful a connection connected Thursday. “They are bypassing cybersecurity protections, evading oversight, and putting Americans’ individual information astatine risk. We cannot let this protector cognition to proceed operating unchecked while millions of group look nan threat of personality theft, economical disruption, and imperishable harm. The Trump Administration and agency activity must instantly put a extremity to these reckless actions that consequence causing unprecedented chaos successful Americans’ regular lives.”

When visiting nan GSA offices, committee investigators saw “cloud infrastructure and endeavor web infrastructure diagrams” drawn connected a whiteboard, but GSA officials blocked their position “with their bodies,” nan study says.

The study besides claims that GSA officials “refused to show unit Starlink infrastructure,” telling them to schedule a follow-up sojourn and past denying nan petition to do so. The GSA installed terminals from Starlink, nan outer institution Musk owns, about a month aft inauguration. At nan time, GSA unit warned that this posed a important information consequence and voiced interest that nan terminals could let DOGE to siphon information retired of nan agency. According to nan report, GSA officials “could not moreover corroborate that nan Starlink terminal was configured pinch basal information settings recommended by Starlink itself,” making staffers “concerned that immoderate information sent aliases received complete nan Starlink instrumentality astatine GSA and different locations could beryllium an easy target for overseas adversaries."

Starlink terminals person besides been installed astatine nan White House.

This was not nan only evident effort to circumvent authorities policies and protections astir data. One erstwhile OPM worker alleged successful an question and reply pinch investigators that “even earlier nan inauguration, nan incoming management expressed a ‘strong interest’ successful government-wide email servers and centralizing communications.” According to nan employee, Greg Hogan, nan incoming CIO, “had asked OPM unit whether they could deploy an AI strategy successful an off-cloud environment, an situation that would let for little agency oversight and less safeguards.” (Pinover declined to remark connected thing that happened earlier nan inauguration. “The CIO asked galore method questions arsenic portion of his role,” they said successful consequence to a mobility astir Hogan. “All his activity astatine OPM complied pinch nan agency’s information and regulatory requirements.”)

At nan SSA, investigators recovered that entree to nan areas DOGE worked retired of were controlled by equipped guards. It was a measurement taken, according to Dan Callahan, adjunct commissioner for building and accommodation management, because nan DOGE members were “concerned for their safety.” Upon further inquiry, investigators recovered that this interest stemmed from “communication pinch an SSA worker that ‘included cursing.’”

At nan GSA, “armed guards controlled entree to activity and surviving spaces [and] rooms were locked,” nan study says, while nan investigators’ sojourn to OPM was carried retired nether equipped guard. (“The ‘armed guards’ were nan normal information teams that supply information for nan OPM office,” said Pinover, citing purported “misbehavior” by nan investigators arsenic they visited different agencies. “They accompanied nan sojourn erstwhile entering unafraid areas pinch delicate information.”)

As a consequence of nan investigation, nan study calls connected nan Trump management to extremity each DOGE activities, revoke each entree its representatives support complete personally identifiable information, and require agencies to supply grounds that nan entree is compliant pinch existing privateness regulations. The investigators besides request that SSA unopen down nan unreality situation to which DOGE uploaded NUMIDENT data.

The White House and GSA did not instantly respond to requests for remark from WIRED.

Updated: 9/25/2025, 4:01 PM EST: OPM's spokesperson is McLaurine Pinover.