Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has set its sights on a child support database in its latest efforts to access sensitive information from various agencies.
This time, the target is a powerful database that houses nearly all U.S. workers' earnings kept by the health department's child support office. The latest efforts have sparked another series of arguments with career staff over legally protected records.
DOGE's Efforts To Gain Information
Musk's DOGE team has clashed with civil servants over the last few weeks over its attempts to gain access to privileged information or systems kept by the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Social Security Administration, among others.
However, earlier this week, DOGE associates have set their sights on what many experts and government officials described as arguably the most sensitive of all. This is a system within a broader government database that was established to help enforce child support payments, according to the Washington Post.
The database pulls a massive amount of information, such as income data linked to nearly all workers nationwide. It was not immediately clear why Musk's DOGE was seeking access to the health agency's database.
Read more: Colorado Funding Cuts Threaten Therapeutical Care, Other Services for Children With Disabilities
However, the entrepreneur's team has expressed its intent in the past few days to check personal tax records against federal benefits, grants, and student loans. This measure could allow them to link together traditionally siloed government systems to identify duplicative or wasteful payments.
The database in question is known as the Federal Parent Locator Service and is kept at the Department of Health and Human Services. DOGE's interest is primarily in gaining access to a component known as the National Directory of New Hires, MSN reported.
Massive Amounts of Data
This component draws on several data streams, including one that includes information regarding all new employees throughout the United States. Another includes quarterly wage data, while a third has data about unemployment insurance benefits.
Two people familiar with the matter said that DOGE officials were immediately rebuffed by a career civil servant, who questioned their motives and authority.
The database that the agency is trying to access was established in 1996 to assist parents with custody of their children, and the government withholds regular child support payments from the income of those without custody.
The situation comes as the Trump administration has been making efforts to target federal spending, including the Department of Education, which he called a "big con job," as per Vox.
