Government data being processed through AI, associated with Elon Musk's DOGE project, as per the recent report
The Department of Education (DOE) is currently embroiled in a heated controversy, with reports suggesting that Elon Musk's team at DOGE is using artificial intelligence (AI) and Microsoft's cloud computing service, Azure, to sift through sensitive data from the department.
The DOGE employees, who are federal employees with the necessary background checks and clearances, are said to be focused on making the DOE more cost-efficient, effective, and accountable to taxpayers. However, concerns about the use of AI to process sensitive data and the associated security risks have not been addressed by Madi Biedermann, the DOE's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications.
The data in question includes personally identifiable information for those who manage grants and sensitive internal financial data. Reports suggest that the DOE is vulnerable as a target for Trump's "goons," with reports of DOGE accessing highly sensitive data about federal student aid, including the personal information for millions who receive student loans from the government.
The DOGE initiative, which aims to get a complete picture of the DOE and radically reduce spending, is part of President Trump's push for unprecedented reform of the federal civil service. According to Madi Biedermann, the reform focuses on returning to in-person work, restoring accountability for employees with policy-making authority, restoring accountability for senior career executives, and reforming the federal hiring process to focus on merit.
However, the initiative has not been without controversy. About 100 staff at the DOE have been placed on leave, apparently for their involvement in DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives. The president has already fired over a dozen inspectors general in a blatantly illegal effort to install loyalists as government watchdogs.
The use of AI to process sensitive data is reportedly a security concern, as many government agencies have rules prohibiting such use. The statement from Madi Biedermann does not address this issue, nor does it mention the president's promise to abolish the DOE or the reported access of DOGE to sensitive data about federal student aid.
Additionally, the CIA was reportedly forced by the White House to send an unclassified email with the names of new staff hired in the past two years, but this is not mentioned in Madi Biedermann's statement.
The ongoing lawsuits aiming to slow down DOGE or the placement of staff on leave at the DOE are not discussed in the statement from Madi Biedermann. The Trump administration has agreed to restrict DOGE's access to Treasury Department payment systems, but exceptions have been made for two special government employees, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, who are allowed "read-only" access "as needed."
It's not clear who determines when access is "needed" to "perform their duties," and Tom Krause and Marko Elez, along with other DOGE employees, are reportedly running roughshod over various agencies. Most of the staff put on leave at the DOE are women and not white, according to the Post.
The president's executive order forbidding the discussion of DEI, and federal agencies have been forced to scrub their website and research reports of forbidden words like "transgender" and "LGBT" at places like the CDC and NSF. These developments have added to the growing concerns about the transparency and accountability of the Trump administration.
