May 7, 2025.

Alarm appears to be rising about how the Department of Government Efficiency, or Doggy, is consolidating data about Americans.

Hannah Natanson, Joseph Menn, Lisa Rhine, and Rachel Siegel wrote in the Washington Post

today that Doggy is racing to build a single centralized database with vast troves of personal

information about millions of U.S. citizens and residents. In the past, that information has been carefully siloed,

and there are strict laws about accessing it. But under billionaire Elon Musk, who appears to direct

doggy, although the White House has said he does not, operatives who may not have appropriate

security clearances are removing protections and linking data.

There are currently at least 11 lawsuits underway claiming that Doggy has violated the 1974

Privacy Act, regulating who can access information about American citizens stored by the federal

government. Musk and President Donald Trump, as well as other administration officials,

claim that such consolidation of data is important to combat waste, fraud, and abuse,

although so far they have not been able to confirm any such savings,

and their cuts are stripping ordinary Americans of programs they depend on. White House

spokesperson Harrison Fields told the Washington Post reporters that Doggy's processes are protected by

some of the brightest cybersecurity minds in the nation and that every action taken is fully compliant

with the law.

Cybersecurity experts outside the administration disagree that a master database is secure or safe

as doggie is bypassing normal safeguards, including neglecting to record who has accessed

or changed database information. The Ash Center for Democratic

Governance and Innovation at Harvard's Kennedy School explains that data can be altered or manipulated

to redirect funds, for example, and that there is substantial risk that data can be hacked

...