Senate Dems call on VA secretary to protect veteran data from DOGE
Senate Democrats are pressing newly minted Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to safeguard veterans’ personal data amid reports that members of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have access to the department’s IT systems.
In a Thursday letter to Collins, 26 Democrats asked that the department “immediately secure any personal and related information regarding veterans provided by VA or other agencies to Elon Musk and associates.”
The missive was organized by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
“Veterans risked their lives to defend our country, and they deserve better than to have an unelected billionaire reviewing their medical records, targeting the benefits they have earned, or using their private information for personal gain,” the lawmakers wrote.
Under Musk’s leadership, the DOGE team — tasked by President Donald Trump with shaking up government operations and slashing spending — has dispatched employees to a variety of agencies. The Trump administration has named Musk a “special government employee” to carry out the unit’s work.
Some legal experts have questioned the legality and even constitutionality of DOGE’s work, which has included them gaining access to sensitive tech systems and databases to carry out their efforts. The cost-cutting unit is being sued by a coalition of labor organizations after DOGE personnel gained access to the Treasury Department’s federal payment system.
In an article published in Military.com on Wednesday, a VA spokesperson told the outlet that the department has a DOGE employee “specifically focused on identifying wasteful contracts, improving VA operations and strengthening management of the department’s IT projects.”
In addition to securing veterans’ data, the lawmakers also asked Collins “to deny and sever [DOGE] access to any VA or other government system that includes information about veterans, and to require them to immediately and permanently delete any information in their possession.”
VA houses a range of information about retired servicemembers, including their health records, payment information and even genetic data. That does not include the sensitive data that its systems hold about VA personnel, including their private information, as well as files from whistleblowers who have flagged wrongdoing or malpractice across its operations.
The letter’s signatories called DOGE’s access to federal systems an “abhorrent and illegal overreach of executive powers” and warned about the unit’s handling of Americans’ data.
“With every hour, we see DOGE further expand its efforts to create a massive private database of previously guarded data outside the federal government’s cyber and legal protections,” the lawmakers wrote.
