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Musk Takes Over OPM as Well as Treasury and FAA and . . . and . . . [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-31

A top rec’d diary describes how Musk locked government employees out of the Treasury’s government payment systems. Rachel Maddow explained how he got the head of the FAA fired in revenge for him fining SpaceX over safety concerns. (Caveat: SNOPES is not convinced that Musk was behind the resignation.) Now Reuters has uncovered another Musk intrusion into our republic: Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say.

Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials. . . . The systems include a vast database called Enterprise Human Resources Integration, which contains dates of birth, Social Security numbers, appraisals, home addresses, pay grades and length of service of government workers, the officials said. "We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," one of the officials said. "That is creating great concern. There is no oversight. It creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications."

Musk’s team even moved sofa beds into the director’s office (and moved the director out) so they can work around the clock. Apparently this is the same tactic he used when he took over Twitter. But at least he bought Twitter fair and square (mostly). It’s clearer every day that he also bought Trump and through him, access to the entire federal government.

Elon Musk is reportedly taking control of the inner workings of US government agencies

Musk’s disruption of the federal government so far tracks closely to the chaotic days following his takeover of Twitter, as detailed by books like “Character Limit” and other reporting from the time. It represents an unprecedented power grab within the U.S. government, and one that directly contradicts the original stated purpose of DOGE. When Donald Trump first announced it in November after he won the election, the idea was to set up DOGE as an entity outside the federal government that would make recommendations on where to cut spending. That’s not what happened. After his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order that renamed the U.S. Digital Service to the “U.S. DOGE service,” meaning Musk is now working inside the government. He reportedly has an office in the West Wing of the White House, but is also apparently sleeping at the DOGE office, according to Wired.

'Musk's fingerprints all over' bewildering email sent to federal workers: report

"If Musk's takeover of Washington is anything like his takeover of Twitter, federal workers — and Americans more generally — had better buckle up," [Axios] reported. "His 'slash first, ask questions later' management style has already been reflected in some of President Trump's biggest moves."

And something else to ponder (this from 2 years ago): Elon Musk: The World's Worst Businessman, and from 3 years ago: Elon Musk’s Leadership Style Bad For Business And Mental Health, Experts Warn. On top of which, from just last week: Misinformation as a Business Model—How Meta and Musk Endanger Democracy | Opinion.

Unelected, unvetted, unaccountable to Congress, to the people, probably even to Trump. One wonders how he has time to subvert England and other European countries. And how long before Trump or Putin or Xi decide he’s a bigger problem than a help?

Whichever way it turns out, it does not look good for the American people.

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