Young Elon Musk Lieutenants, Ages 19-24, Given Access To Sensitive Taxpayer Data

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has given Elon Musk and his team of young lieutenant engineers at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to the United States federal payment system. The system contains millions of Americans’ sensitive information, including tax returns and Social Security checks.

Wired has investigated public records to identify six of Musk’s closest lieutenants, all between the ages of 19 and 24—one, a recent high school graduate, and another who made headlines for deciphering ancient scrolls. Musk has appointed them to critical roles at DOGE. The source found they have little to no government experience despite their new roles and have been given vague titles.

“We really have very little eyes on what’s going on. Congress has no ability to really intervene and monitor what’s happening because these aren’t really accountable public officials. So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world,” professor of public policy at the University of Michigan Don Moynihan told Wired. 

This follows the Trump administration’s effort to restrict the disbursement of federal money approved for specific purposes by Congress. A now-former civil servant at the treasury, David Lebryk, resisted giving DOGE access to the department’s payment system, which disburses money from the federal government. Lebryk was put on leave after opposing the move and later retired.

In their effort to reduce government spending on behalf of President Donald Trump, Musk and his crew now possess personal data that they can view and analyze at their discretion. Musk defended DOGE’s access to these records, saying he is concerned with fraudulent payments that need monitoring. In a post to X on Saturday, he criticized the Treasury Department for not rejecting more payments as fraudulent.