Feb. 12 (UPI) — Current and former U.S. government workers, their unions and privacy advocates have filed a lawsuit asking the courts to stop the Trump administration from disclosing millions of Americans’ information to Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
Filed Tuesday, the lawsuit states that the Office of Personnel Management violated the Privacy Act by giving DOGE agents access to its systems and records, which contain highly sensitive personal and employment information of tens of millions of current and former federal employees, contractors and job applicants.
According to the court document, the Privacy Act of 1974 makes it illegal for the OPM to grant DOGE access of the information, as DOGE “lacks a lawful and legitimate need for such access.”
“OPM Defendants’ action granting DOGE Defendants full, continuing and ongoing access to OPM’s systems and files for an unspecified period means that tens of millions of federal-government employees, retirees, contractors, job applicants and impacted family members and other third parties have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit, filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, further argues that DOGE has exceeded the scope of its legal authority by accessing and controlling OPM’s system.
Despite its name DOGE is not a federal department but a Temporary Organization that President Donald Trump formed via an executive order on his first day in office with the mandate to modernize “federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
Trump had campaigned on creating DOGE and named Musk, his largest campaign backer and the world’s richest man, to lead the organization. He had vowed to cut $2 trillion from the U.S. budget.
However, in less than a month, DOGE has attracted much controversy and several lawsuits over its seemingly unhindered access to information supposed to be protected by the federal government and its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, an important soft power mechanism of the federal government.
The lawsuit announced Tuesday states at least since DOGE agents were given broad access to all personnel systems at OPM on Jan. 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration.
It said DOGE agents have not received security clearance through the normal process and that at least one of them was previously fired from a private company for disclosing his employer’s secrets — all exacerbating concerns about unauthorized parties receiving access to OPM data.
“The Privacy Act strictly protects personal information from improper disclosure and misuse, including by barring disclosure to other agencies within the federal government and individuals who lack a lawful and legitimate need for it,” the lawsuit states.
Similar lawsuits have already been filed against DOGE.
On Monday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit against the controversial Temporary Organization over its access to confidential information at the OPM and the Treasury.
And on Feb. 3, Public Citizen Litigation Group and State Democracy Defense Fund sued to stop the U.S. Treasury from sharing confidential information of millions of Americans with DOGE.
On Tuesday, Musk from the White House defended the work of DOGE, saying that the American people voted for reform when they elected Trump.
“We’ve already found billions of dollars of abuse, incompetence and corruption,” he said.
Musk has yet to provide proof for his claims.