The so-called “Ministry of Effectiveness of the Government”, the Donald Trump– Program created known as Doge and led by the billionaire Elon MuskAccess or requested access to sensitive systems from several health agencies while the American president tries to grant the Committee of sweeping powers within the federal government.
The access offer comes in the middle of an unprecedented effort to stop public spending, despite multiple judicial orders to thaw funds and overthrow the suspensions of the staff.
Thousands of people were dismissed on Friday Trump administration announced a plan to dismiss almost all probation employees, potentially count by hundreds of thousands of people through the federal service.
“The potential for harm is important,” said Scott Cory, former information director for an agency in the American department of Health and social services (HHS).
Health agencies maintain closely controlled databases with sensitive information, and the upheavals of these agencies threaten the American health system even as the threat of infectious diseases as bird flu continues to progress.
“The possibility of new epidemics or public health events is certain given the recent propagation concerning bird flu, which is still hampered by a slow response,” said a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees ( CDC) which asked for anonymity because they were not allowed to talk about the file.
“With cut external communications, in-depth working orders and spectacular changes in the federal workforce, the capacity of any health agency is seriously limited and will ultimately only serve those who choose to take advantage of suffering”, said the employee.
Trump tried to give Doge the power to reduce the federal workforce in a new executive decree signed Tuesday, despite legal proceedings Unions on DOGE access.
Friday, some 5,200 people in health agencies would have received dismissal notices.
About 1,250 of them worked at the CDC, according to a source that requested anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly.
This included senior officials and the entire first -year class of CDC epidemic intelligence services, called “detective diseases”.
Other senior health officials are also targeted for layoffs, and employees are preparing for more mass layoffs in the coming days, sources said. Several entrepreneurs have also said that they were dismissed this week.
Probation employees include staff who have not served the full time (generally a year or two) necessary to obtain protection of the public service in their posts – and this also applies to senior officials who have recently changed any job.
The staff of certain health agencies, including HHS and CDC, said they were invited not to talk about DOGE in emails and internal messages, for fear of attracting attention through requests or research From the Freedom of Information Act (foia) of those who had had access to these systems.
“During my time in the federal government, I have never seen this,” said the CDC employee. “It’s just a complete upheaval.”
Doge’s representatives had access to the CDC Atlanta offices last week, according to sources that requested anonymity because they were not allowed to speak.
Officials affiliated to DOGE also had access to payment and contract systems for centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to statement Wall Street Journal.
Musk, the unpaid “special government employee” at the top of Doge, seemed to confirm access to the CMS and the search for potential fraud in Medicare payment systems: “Yes, this is where fraud wholesale alleged on X on February 5.
Medicare fraud has long been an objective of a meticulous survey, with 193 health professionals decree In June as part of the Biden administration on costs linked to $ 2.75 billion in alleged health care fraud.
But the cessation of payments already authorized by the congress, as the Trump administration has already done with foreign assistance and federal grants and loans, is an unprecedented decision.
DOGE representatives have also requested access to HHS payment systems that deal with billions of dollars in health care funding, and seems to have accessed at least some of them, the Washington Post reported.
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The HHS did not respond to the Guardian media investigation at the time of the press.
One of the systems requested, the integrated general accounting system of Healthcare, contains financial information on all hospitals, doctors and other health organizations participating in federal programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the affordable care law.
It requires training on the Portability and Health Insurance Act (HIPAA) for access; It is not clear if Doge’s representatives have followed this training.
DOGE officials would also have acquired in -depth access to the Treasury Department.
Musk’s “clear role” in a committee that has not been approved by Congress “was a strong signal of this administration according to which the book of legal rules according to which the federal government is operating either,” said the CDC employee.
“The aggressive takeover by Musk many sensitive data systems, including those of the CMS and the Treasury, should concern everyone,” continued the employee. “Having access to all this data is not only a security risk, but the abusive potential to have such data is incomprehensible.”
Armed with these systems and data, the Trump administration could dismantle the support of health care to the Americans and punish states or entities refusing to align with the priorities of the administration, said the employee.
Interference in the systems that health agencies use to treat payments could threaten the lives of people who depend on funds, said Cory.
There are also confidentiality problems.
“There are a lot of sensitive data that runs these systems in individuals’ bank accounts, including personally identifiable information on people’s benefits, such as Social Security,” said Cory.
Although the information is generally not stored in payment systems, “you can go back from this system, probably, to the system that contains and maintains this information,” said Cory. “And that’s where it becomes frightening.”
No one should have access to whole systems like these, said Cory. Even small changes are a big problem and must be tested largely before being deployed.
However, the legal repercussions of illegal access and activities in federal systems are limited, he said.
“The constraints on the bad actors who are there, inside the system, doing bad things, are relatively rare,” said Cory.
The data collected by agencies play a crucial role in the safety of the Americans – in particular in current epidemics such as the bird flu, Cory said: “If it is not possible to report this data and to disseminate this data , then we are all threatened. “