Get the latest tech news

The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did


Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE’s Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn’t exist.

On January 31, David Lebryk, the most senior career civil servant in the Treasury, announced he would retire; he had been placed on administrative leave after refusing to give Musk’s DOGE team access to the federal payment system. The significance of this is that the ability to alter the code on these systems would in theory give a DOGE technologist—and, by extension, Musk, President Donald Trump, or other actors—the capability to, among other things, illegally cut off Congressionally authorized payments to specific individuals or entities. (CNN reported on Thursday that Musk associates had demanded that Treasury pause authorized payments to USAID, precipitating Lebryk’s resignation.)

Get the Android app

Or read this on r/technology

Read more on:

Photo of Access

Access

Photo of US Treasury

US Treasury

Photo of doge technologist

doge technologist

Related news:

News photo

Gov't Blocks DOGE Access To DOL Data Until Friday Hearing

News photo

DeepSeek Limits Access to AI Model as Demand Strains Capacity

News photo

DOJ agrees to proposed order to limit DOGE's access to Treasury data