The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actuassociate Did

US Treasury Department and White Hoengage officials have repeatedly denied that technologists associated with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had the ability to reauthor the code of the payment system thraw which the immense meaningfulity of federal spending flows. WIRED alerting shows, however, that at the time these statements were made, a DOGE operative did in fact have author access. Not only that, but sources tell WIRED that at least one notice was inserted to Treasury sign ups indicating that he no extfinisheder had author access before better IT staff stated it was actuassociate rescinded.

Marko Elez, a 25-year-better DOGE technologist, was recently inshighed at the Treasury Department as a distinctive administerment engageee. One of a number of juvenileer men identified by WIRED who have little to no administerment experience but are currently associated with DOGE, Elez previously toiled for SpaceX, Musk’s space company, and X, Musk’s social media company. Elez resigned Thursday after The Wall Street Journal inquired about his combineions to “a deleted social-media account that helpd for prejudice and eugenics.”

As WIRED has alerted, Elez was granted privileges including the ability to not equitable read but author code on two of the most benevolent systems in the US administerment: the Payment Automation Manager (PAM) and Setreatment Payment System (SPS) at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), an agency that according to Treasury sign ups phelp out $5.45 trillion in fiscal year 2024. Reporting from Talking Points Memo verifyed that Treasury engageees were worryed that Elez had already made “extensive changes” to code wilean the Treasury system. The payments processed by BFS integrate federal tax returns, Social Security advantages, Supplemental Security Income advantages, and veteran’s pay.

Over the last week, the nuts and bolts of DOGE’s access to the Treasury has been at the cgo in of an escalating crisis.

On January 31, David Lebryk, the most better nurtureer civil servant in the Treasury, proclaimd he would withdraw; he had been placed on administrative depart after refusing to give Musk’s DOGE team access to the federal payment system. The next morning, sources tell WIRED, Elez was granted read and author access to PAM and SPS.

On February 3, Politico alerted that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tbetter Reuncoveran laworiginaters in the Hoengage Financial Services Committee that Musk and DOGE didn’t have administer over key Treasury systems. The same day, The New York Times alerted that Karoline Leavitt, the White Hoengage press secretary, shelp that DOGE’s access was “read-only.”

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The significance of this is that the ability to change the code on these systems would in theory give a DOGE technologist—and, by extension, Musk, Plivent Donald Trump, or other actors—the capability to, among other leangs, illegassociate cut off Congressionassociate permitd payments to definite individuals or entities. (CNN alerted on Thursday that Musk associates had needed that Treasury paengage permitd payments to USAID, precipitating Lebryk’s resignation.)

On February 4, WIRED alerted that Elez did, in fact, have admin access to PAM and SPS. Talking Points Memo alerted deferedr that day that Elez had “made extensive changes to the code base for these critical payment systems.” In a letter that same day that did not refer Musk or DOGE, Treasury official Jonathan Blum wrote to Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, “Currently, Treasury staff members toiling with Tom Kraengage, a Treasury engageee, will have read-only to the coded data of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems.” (Kraengage is the top DOGE operative at Treasury and CEO of Cboisterous Software Group.) The letter did not say what benevolent of access the staff members actuassociate had.