Congress: Protect Americans’ data

On Jan. 31, 2025, the largest data breach in American 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 Mr. Musk were also granted access and external hard drives were brought in to capture the data for off-site storage. While these affiliates are now being called employees of DOGE, none of them have been subjected to the rigorous background checks.

No President has ever granted one of their largest donors access to citizens’ data in this manner. Not only does it 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 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 sensitive data.

The American people deserve data privacy and security. We have no idea who else Musk and his DOGE employees have shared this data with. It goes without saying that any leak of this 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 occur again.

With the data of millions of Americans already in Musk’s hands, it is incumbent upon our federal elected leaders to protect us by demanding oversight of Musk and DOGE and to investigate whether protective laws such as the Federal Information Security Act (FISMA) 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 Reps. Hinson, Miller-Meeks, Nunn, and Feenstra, along with Sens. Grassley and Ernst, to use every tool at their disposal to ensure that Americans’ Social Security data is not compromised. Finally, it must be determined what federal laws were broken and lawbreakers must be held accountable.

We also call on Gov. Reynolds and Attorney General Bird to cease any cooperation with DOGE — and should any harm come to Iowans due to this egregious violation of privacy and public trust, file suit in federal court.

To our fellow Iowans, we ask you to call your members of Congress and senators and demand that they take action to protect your private data. Your privacy and right to security of your personal information should not be waved away under the guise of Government efficiency.

State Sen. Liz Bennett represents District 39 and is the Ranking Member of the Senate Technology Committee. State Rep. Aime Wichtendahl represents District 80.