Aides to Elon Musk - who have taken charge of the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) - have locked career civil servants out of computer systems containing the personal data of millions of federal employees.
The move comes as part of a sweeping transformation under President Donald Trump, who, since assuming office 11 days ago, has undertaken an aggressive reshaping of the federal bureaucracy.
Hundreds of civil servants have been fired or sidelined as Trump advances plans to trim the 2.2 million-strong civilian workforce and install loyalists in key positions.
Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and owner of social media platform X, has been tasked by the administration to oversee this downsizing. His team has swiftly assumed control of OPM, which serves as the federal government’s human resources agency.
Two agency officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, confirmed that senior career employees at OPM have had their access revoked to certain data systems, including the Enterprise Human Resources Integration database.
This system contains sensitive information such as dates of birth, Social Security numbers, home addresses, pay grades, and performance appraisals of government workers.
"We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," said one of the officials. "That is creating great concern. There is no oversight. It creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications."
While affected officials can still access basic functions such as email, they have been blocked from viewing datasets that encompass extensive details of the federal workforce.
Neither OPM, Musk’s team, nor the White House have commented on the development.
Concerns over oversight and governance
The shift in control has raised questions about transparency and congressional oversight. Don Moynihan, a professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, warned that the measures taken by Musk’s team could lead to unchecked influence over the agency’s operations.
"This makes it much harder for anyone outside Musk’s inner circle at OPM to know what’s going on," he said.
Adding to concerns, OPM has issued unusually worded memos urging civil servants to consider buyout offers and resignations, even encouraging them to take vacations to “dream destinations.”
Musk’s influence extends to treasury
The takeover of OPM reflects Musk’s growing influence within the government. A team of his current and former employees assumed control of the agency on January 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration. Reports indicate that they have set up sofa beds in the agency’s fifth-floor headquarters, suggesting an effort to work around the clock.
A similar restructuring has also been reported at the U.S. Treasury Department, where Musk allies have sought access to payment systems. The Washington Post reported that David Lebryk, a senior Treasury official, is set to leave his post following a clash with Musk’s aides.
At OPM, the new leadership has reassigned top officials, including Chief Management Officer Katie Malague, who was moved from her office to another floor. Meanwhile, the acting head of OPM, Charles Ezell, has been issuing directives without prior internal consultation.
"No one here knew that the memos were coming out. We are finding out about these memos at the same time as the rest of the world," an OPM official said.
Musk’s allies take key roles
The new leadership at OPM includes Brian Bjelde, a former vice president of human resources at SpaceX, who now serves as a senior adviser. Amanda Scales, another former Musk employee, has been appointed as OPM’s chief of staff, while Riccardo Biasini, previously an engineer at Tesla and The Boring Company, has taken on a senior advisory role.
Among the controversial directives issued in the past few days is a memo instructing agencies to identify federal workers on probationary periods. Some of these communications have directed agency heads to correspond with Scales via her OPM email address.
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