One-sentence summary: Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is facing intense criticism from real federal auditors who claim its methods are reckless, unqualified, and more akin to data theft than legitimate auditing.
Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with auditing the federal government under President Trump’s second administration, has drawn sharp condemnation from experienced federal auditors. DOGE has quickly moved across federal agencies, accessing sensitive systems and posting error-ridden “findings” while claiming to be identifying fraud, waste, and abuse.
Two anonymous auditors with years of experience assert that DOGE’s actions do not resemble a real audit, which under Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) involves careful planning, evidence collection, evaluation, reporting, and follow-up. They emphasize that legitimate audits take months to complete, require technical and legal expertise, and involve properly vetted and credentialed personnel-none of which DOGE’s team possesses.
Instead, DOGE appears to be rushing through systems without understanding them, misinterpreting data, and bypassing standard security protocols. For example, it falsely claimed 150-year-olds were receiving Social Security due to likely failure to clean the dataset properly. Concerns have grown over DOGE’s access to personally identifiable information, lack of clearances, and employment of inexperienced individuals-some as young as 19-who have been given high-level access to critical agencies without vetting.
Federal employees fear misuse of their data for political targeting, while contract terminations initiated by DOGE-like cutting 10,000 humanitarian aid contracts-are projected to result in greater costs rather than savings. Many of DOGE’s actions, like canceling software licenses or pausing digital service improvements, have undercut established efforts like 18F to streamline government operations.
Despite claims of rooting out fraud, DOGE’s approach seems more driven by ideology and spectacle than true efficiency. Real auditors argue that meaningful reform could begin by following already existing recommendations from Inspector General reports rather than pursuing sensational, unverified “savings” through chaotic interventions. One auditor summed it up starkly: “It’s a heist.”
Elliott, Vittoria. “‘It’s a Heist’: Real Federal Auditors Are Horrified by DOGE.” WIRED, 18 Mar. 2025, www.wired.com/story/federal-auditors-doge-elon-musk/.
Key takeaways:
- DOGE’s approach lacks any alignment with established auditing standards and processes.
- Real auditors say DOGE’s findings are unreliable and often based on misunderstood or improperly handled data.
- Personnel in DOGE lack audit training, certifications, or proper security clearances.
- Sensitive government systems and data have been accessed by young, inexperienced individuals.
- DOGE’s contract cancellations may increase, rather than decrease, government spending.
- Federal workers fear retaliation and misuse of personal information.
- Existing solutions like Inspector General recommendations are being ignored in favor of dramatic interventions.
- Critics suggest DOGE is more focused on political spectacle than real efficiency improvements.
Important quotations:
- “None of them are auditors.”
- “In no uncertain terms is this an audit. It’s a heist.”
- “You can’t coherently audit something like the whole Social Security system in a week or two.”
- “They don’t even know the language and the database systems that they’re working in. That’s why they keep messing up.”
- “It’s a con.”
Word count of summary: 607
Word count of original input: 2,390
Model version: GPT-4
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