State Senator Liz Bennett and State Representative Aime Wichtendahl co-authored this commentary, which first appeared in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Bennett represents Senate district 39 and is District 39 and is the ranking member of the Senate Technology Committee. Wichtendahl represents House district 80 and serves on the House Economic Growth and Technology Committee.
On January 31, 2025, the largest data breach in U.S. history occurred when Elon Musk accessed the United States Treasury systems. The data accessed is, in effect, the nation’s checkbook. Financial transactions detailing the who, what, where, and when of every payment the United States makes, as well as the Social Security numbers of millions of Americans were compromised.
According to reports, then-unnamed affiliates of Musk were also granted access and external hard drives were brought in to capture the data for offsite storage. While these affiliates are now being called employees of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), none of them have gone through the rigorous background checks used to vet other federal employees at this level.
No president has ever granted one of their largest donors access to citizens’ data in this manner. Not only does it recklessly endanger the security of Americans’ most private information, but with Musk holding numerous government contracts, it’s the very definition of corruption.
While President Donald Trump has referred to Musk as a “special government employee,” Musk has not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and DOGE itself is nothing more than a task force. It has not been funded by an act of Congress, and there is no established Congressional oversight for its actions. DOGE does not even have subpoena power, let alone the ability to access the nation’s most sensitive data.
At every level of government, the American people deserve data privacy and security. We deserve to know who has access to our personal data, and how they are using it. We deserve to know our private data is being stored and transmitted safely. With Musk’s breach, we have no such assurances. Moreover, we have no idea whether Musk and his DOGE employees have shared this data with others. Any leak of such data to the dark web would be catastrophic for millions of Americans.
As of this writing, a federal judge has issued an order barring DOGE’s access to federal payment systems and records. Still, a breach of this magnitude never should have occurred, and we have no assurance that it will not happen again.
With the millions of Americans’ data already in Musk’s hands, our federal elected leaders must protect us by demanding oversight of Musk and DOGE. They must investigate whether protective laws such as the Federal Information Security Act have been broken.
As members of the Iowa House and Senate Technology committees, we recognize how mishandling this data endangers our constituents. Together, we call upon U.S. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), Ashley Hinson (IA-02), Zach Nunn (IA-03, and Randy Feenstra (IA-04), along with Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, to use every tool at their disposal to ensure that that all data removed from the treasury is destroyed and that Americans’ Social Security data is not compromised. Finally, it must be determined what federal laws were broken during this data breach and lawbreakers must be held accountable.
We also call on Governor Kim Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird to cease any cooperation with DOGE, and file suit in federal court should any harm come to Iowans due to this egregious violation of privacy and public trust.
To our fellow Iowans, we ask you to call your members of Congress and senators. Demand that they take action to protect your private data from an unelected billionaire, Elon Musk. Your privacy and right to security of your personal information should not be hand-waved away under the guise of government efficiency.