Cybersecurity Policy Report, Connolly, Raskin Enlist FoIA to Investigate Privacy Impacts of DOGE’s Activities, (Mar 18, 2025)
Two House Democrats are seeking to use the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) to obtain documentation about the privacy and cybersecurity practices of the White House Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“DOGE employees, including teenage and twenty-something computer programmers from Mr. [Elon] Musk’s own companies, have been unleashed on the government’s most sensitive databases—from those containing national security and classified information to those containing the personal financial information of all Americans to those containing the trade secrets and sensitive commercial data of Mr. Musk’s competitors,” Reps. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Gerald Connolly (D., Va.), ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter sent yesterday to Amy Gleason, whom the White House has identified as DOGE’s acting administrator.
“Reports and court cases have revealed that DOGE has been stunningly careless with this data, including by feeding sensitive data into AI software, and using a private, unauthorized server to access government data,” they noted.
“Americans deserve a complete accounting of what government databases DOGE has access to; the extent of DOGE staffers’ ability not only to view but also override and rewrite these databases; what precautions, if any, they are taking to protect this highly sensitive data; and why DOGE is accessing vast amounts of data that President Trump admits it does not need,” they said.
In their FoIA request, Reps. Raskin and Connolly seek the names, job titles, and other information about DOGE personnel “who have been granted access to personally identifiable or sensitive information or data at or from any federal agency, office, or entity since January 20, 2025.”
In addition, they request information about any training provided to DOGE personnel “regarding the requirements for handling personally identifiable or sensitive information or data.”
They also seek, among other things, “[r]ecords sufficient to identify all steps that your agency has taken to protect personally identifiable or sensitive information or data” and “all computer programs, applications, and processes, including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs), your agency is using to store, process or analyze personally identifiable or sensitive information or data.”
Citing “widespread and exceptional public and media interest” in the activities of DOGE, they sought expedited processing of their FoIA request and said they expected the requested information to be provided within 20 days.
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