January 31,2025

Wyden Demands Answers Following Report of Musk Personnel Seeking Access to Highly Sensitive U.S. Treasury Payments System

In New Letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent, Wyden Warns That Political Meddling in Treasury Payments Risks Severe Economic Damage, Calls Out Dangerous Conflicts of Interest Stemming from Elon Musk’s Close Business Ties to the Chinese Government

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., demanded answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent today following a report that personnel affiliated with Elon Musk have sought access to a highly sensitive Treasury Department payment system. That system, which is maintained by non-political staff, disperses trillions of dollars each year, such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax credits for individuals and businesses, grants and payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk-owned companies. 

Senator Wyden wrote in a new letter: “To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy. I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems … The federal government is in a financially precarious position, currently utilizing accounting maneuvers to continue paying its bills since it reached the debt limit at the beginning of the year. I am concerned that mismanagement of these payment systems could threaten the full faith and credit of the United States.”

His letter continued: “The press has previously reported that Musk was denied a high-level clearance to access the government’s most sensitive secrets. I am concerned that Musk’s enormous business operation in China -- a country whose intelligence agencies have stolen vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans, including U.S. government employee data by hacking U.S. government systems -- endangers U.S. cybersecurity and creates conflicts of interest that make his access to these systems a national security risk.”

The full text of the letter is available here. The questions posed in the letter follow below. 

  1. Have officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE requested access to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems? If so, please provide the identities of those individuals. 

  2. Has the Treasury Department granted Bureau of Fiscal Service payment systems access to officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE? If so, please provide the following information:

    1. The legal authority under which the Treasury Department granted access to any of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems to officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE

    2. A detailed description of why the Treasury Department gave officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE and the intended changes to the system that merits such access

    3. A list of all officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE who have been granted access to the Fiscal Services Payment Systems. 

    4. Copies of all communications between officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE and Treasury staff related to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems.

  3. Has the Treasury Department given access to payment system databases related to the disbursement of Social Security and Medicare benefits? If so, why?

  4. Has the Treasury Department conducted any screenings, background checks, screening of security clearances or other vetting of officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE? If so, please describe these efforts and whether they took place prior to granting officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE access to the Fiscal Service’s payment systems. 

  5. Has the Treasury Department done any vetting of potential conflicts of interest posed by Elon Musk’s significant business operations in China prior to granting him access to the Fiscal Service’s payment systems or any other Treasury databases?

  6. Please describe what information security measures and other operational security steps will be taken to ensure that providing officials associated with Elon Musk or DOGE such access does not result in hackers and foreign spies breaching or otherwise gaining access to  the Fiscal Service’s payment systems.

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