The Office of the Acting Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management has confirmed that the Independent Office is investigating any “emerging threats” to sensitive information as multiple operators of Elon Musk’s Elon Musk will introduce rapid changes to protected government networks.
“OPM OIG [office of the inspector general] Acting Inspector General Norbert Vint wrote in a letter to Democratic lawmakers on March 7: “Committed to providing independent and objective oversight of OPM plans and actions. The letter noted that the office would conduct “existing work” on specific requirements issued by Democratic lawmakers last month, while also launching “new engagement” for potential risks for agencies associated with computer systems that have been accessed or modified by the U.S. threshold services.
Vint’s former man was fired by Trump in January and was one of six deputy inspectors, urged by Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last month to investigate reports on wired and other channels, as well as other media outlets, Doge worked to get efforts to access multiple record systems that involved some of the government’s most sensitive data, including personnel profiles of millions of government employees, including millions of government employees and their families and their families.
“We are very concerned that unauthorized system access could occur in the federal government and could pose a significant threat to the personal privacy of all Americans and the national security of our country,” Gerald Connolly, a Democrat of the Oversight Committee, wrote in a February 6 letter.
In addition to OPM, the Democrats conducted similar security assessments to five other agencies, including the Treasury Department, General Services Administration, Small Business Administration, U.S. International Development Agency and the Department of Education. However, VINT is the only watchdog to respond to any designated agency so far, a committee spokesman told Wired.
In the House and Senate minorities, Democrats do not have any effective oversight power outside the formal hearing, which must be convened by Republicans. During his first term, the Trump Justice Department issued guidance notifying the executive agencies that they had zero obligations to the Democratic Party’s problems.
Congressional Republicans are committed to having little (if any) work on Doge’s work, but instead opting for post-channels with the influence of billionaires on his anti-sounding crusaders.
The president signed an executive order on his first day of office established the Governor, directing federal agencies to provide Musk’s agents with “complete, timely access” of all unclassified recording systems to carry out government-wide “fraud, waste and abuse.” However, it soon became clear that Doge’s employees, many of them young engineers with direct connections to Musk’s own business, paid little attention to major privacy protections. For example, mandatory assessment of new technologies installed on protected government networks is avoided.
“Some of the issues you indicated in your letter about the OPM OIG assessment is part of our annual review of OPM IT and financial systems, and we plan to include these issues in these existing projects,” Vint wrote in a letter dated March 7. “We are also just beginning to engage in assessing the risks associated with OPM’s new and modified information systems. We believe that, ultimately, our new participation will broadly address many of the issues related to OPM’s system integrity.”
