Report: DOGE Is Getting Audited

The agency known as the congressional watchdog is reportedly taking a close look at DOGE. Wired, citing sources and government records, reports that the Government Accountability Office has been auditing DOGE since last month after requests from congressional leaders. Records suggest the GAO audit is focusing on DOGE's adherence to privacy and data protection laws. "The reports of untrained people rummaging around databases changing code, scraping data—who knows what they're doing?—were pretty alarming," a congressional aide tells Wired.

Wired reports that records show the GAO—which describes itself as an "independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress"—will carry out a "granular review" of every system DOGE operatives have accessed at dozens of federal agencies.

• GAO asked the Department of Labor to explain how DOGE was accessing systems and information and to describe the processes and safeguards in place to ensure DOGE is "appropriately protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the agency systems and information as required by applicable laws and guidance."
• Elon Musk's teams have accessed data with the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans, and in court filings reviewed by Rolling Stone, Trump administration lawyers have been unable to explain exactly why DOGE needs it.

• Wired's sources say the review will be made publicly available after it is completed in late spring.
• "GAO has received requests to review actions taken by DOGE across multiple agencies," GAO spokesperson Sarah Kaczmarek tells Wired. "The first thing GAO does as any work begins is to determine the full scope of what we will cover and the methodology to be used. Until that is done, we cannot provide any additional details or estimates on when the work will be completed."
• Two House Democrats, meanwhile, have introduced a bill aimed at making DOGE more transparent. Axios reports that the DOGE Accountability and Transparency Act introduced by Reps. Brad Schneider and Stephen Lynch would require DOGE to submit a report to Congress every week, explaining the legal basis for its actions and detailing "all firings, budget cuts, policy changes, physical alterations to federal buildings or relocations, and data accessed by the department's staff."

(More DOGE stories.)