DOGE faces criticism over access to federal systems
Stephen Miller defends DOGE audit of IRS: They're restoring 'neutrality, ethics and accountability'
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller joins 'America Reports' to explain DOGE preparing to audit the IRS.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, will soon have access to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) system that contains sensitive taxpayer information, Fox News has learned.
DOGE has requested access to the IRS Integrated Data Retrieval System, which allows IRS workers to view taxpayer accounts.
Harrison Fields, the White House principal deputy press secretary, told Fox News in a statement that access to this system is necessary to identify fraud and fix the system.
"Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long," Fields said. "It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it. DOGE will continue to shine a light on the fraud they uncover as the American people deserve to know what their government has been spending their hard-earned tax dollars on."
Elon Musk and President Donald Trump talk about DOGE's efforts to investigate wasteful U.S. government spending from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11, 2025. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
The IRS website states that the system allows workers "to have instantaneous visual access to certain taxpayer accounts." Other functions of the system include "researching account information and requesting returns," entering transactions and collection information, and "automatically generating notices, collection documents and other outputs."
The Musk-led DOGE will soon have access to an IRS system that contains sensitive taxpayer information, Fox News learned Monday. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)
Musk is leading DOGE to aggressively slash government waste when it comes to federal spending under President Donald Trump. It was created via executive order and is a temporary organization within the White House that will spend 18 months carrying out its mission.
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The group has faced criticism over its access to federal systems, including the Treasury Department's payment system, as well as moves to cancel federal contracts and make cuts at various agencies. Attorneys general from 14 states are suing to block DOGE from accessing federal data, arguing Musk and Trump's administration have engaged in illegal executive overreach.
The newly formed cost-cutting agency scored a win on Friday when a federal judge in Washington declined a request to temporarily block it from accessing sensitive data from the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Eric Revell contributed to this report.
Hillary Vaughn is a correspondent for FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network and is based in Los Angeles, CA.
Twitter: @hillary__vaughn
