US labor department employees terrified that Elon Musk’s D.O.G.E has access to data

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) has been granted access to software capable of transferring massive amounts of data out of the US Labor Department’s systems, according to a report by NBC.

The approval has set off alarms among career government workers who fear sensitive information may already be in Elon’s hands.

The situation escalated last week when the Labor Department gave the green light for D.O.G.E to deploy PuTTY, an open-source software for remote access and file transfer.

Elon’s D.O.G.E is operating deep inside federal agencies, tearing through bureaucracies with President Donald Trump’s full backing. Labor employees reportedly said they were blindsided when D.O.G.E operatives were granted permission to use PuTTY.

According to the NBC report, five D.O.G.E personnel were given access not only to PuTTY but also to an SQL studio program used for editing and navigating government databases.

Lawsuits pile up as concerns grow

D.O.G.E’s push for federal data access is already drawing legal challenges. A federal judge issued a restraining order on Saturday, temporarily blocking D.O.G.E from accessing Treasury Department data following concerns over unauthorized information retrieval.

While the ruling did not cover the Labor Department, lawsuits from labor unions, privacy groups, and Democratic lawmakers have been filed in multiple federal offices, seeking to halt D.O.G.E’s reach.

Labor Department systems hold a wide range of critical data. Among them: Bureau of Labor Statistics files tracking economic health, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) records on workplace violations, and Employment and Training Administration grant details, which include billions in annual funding for community colleges and apprenticeships. It remains unclear which of these, if any, D.O.G.E operatives sought access to.

D.O.G.E’s role in government layoffs

Elon’s D.O.G.E isn’t just grabbing data—it’s also slashing jobs. The Trump administration has initiated mass layoffs across at least seven federal agencies, cutting thousands of workers in an aggressive effort to shrink the government.

On Thursday, the Department of Energy announced plans to lay off most, if not all, of its 2,000 probationary employees. The Education Department, Office of Personnel Management, Department of Veterans Affairs, Small Business Administration, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and General Services Administration also moved forward with cuts following Trump’s executive order mandating large-scale workforce reductions.

The administration’s voluntary resignation program, which had seen 77,000 federal employees leave their positions, was shut down on Wednesday by a judge’s ruling. The program only accounted for a 3% reduction in the workforce, which is far below Trump’s 10% target, so Elon had to do something about it.

Just yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was consumed by speculation that newly sworn-in Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would initiate sweeping layoffs across the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Ahead of his arrival, NIH employees were warned—through unofficial channels—that mass terminations could begin within days. But as of press time, no official action had been taken.

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