Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have not been properly security vetted and have at best been temporarily deputised into public service to do the retrieval tasks. They are loyal to Musk first, second and third and MAGA/Trump fourth. They are not loyal to the US public whose data they have now appropriated. This means that all that data collected is potentially being compromised or at risk of wider exposure and can even be data-mined, gifted or sold off to third parties for purposes other than public sector auditing or transparency.
That is pretty mind-boggling. As someone who held a S/TS/SCI clearance before leaving the US for a better life overseas, I had to undergo two polygraph and background checks conducted by the Defence Intelligence Agency before being granted the clearances, and upon leaving the security community I was placed under a 20 year gag order on what I had seen/done, with any material that I wanted to use after the 20 year gag window period ended subject to DoD censoring and editing (should I have decided to write or speak about topics that included using classified materials). I say this because I handled material that was just pertinent to my official duties, not wide swathes of data about everything under the sun, so the lack of security vetting of Musk’s minions is, again, astonishingly wrong.
This has the potential to end very badly, not just for the US government or what will be left of it after this reckless DOGE wrecking ball is done with it, but for the millions of people whose data can now be manipulated and used for untoward ends. We must remember that Musk is a dishonest and unscrupulous person, his cult minions and other “techbros” subscribe to variant of an anti-democratic and Social Darwinistic ideology known as “neoreactionism,” and MAGA acolytes like Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, Pam Biondi and the authors of Project 2025 now installed in the corridors of power are all too happy to use any means to pursue the Trump/Musk agenda. Since all of these people are disreputable curs, none can be trusted to prevent misuse of personal confidential data for revenge, profit or other non-accountable purposes.
The questions then become: who benefits from the data-grabbing move? The GOP? Putin? The techbro oligarchy? What is the end game?
Whatever it is, it is a disaster in the making.
I have to ask do you think this sort of thing and everything they will do will end in tears for Musk and MAGA/Trump followers who is appointed to government positions?
I feel whatever shape the US in at the end of Trump 4 years, that there could be deadly reckoning for those cult youngsters as people or institutions have long memories and legal means are too unprofessional?
Justin:
Had you asked me six months ago I would have said that moves like these would result in the cultists being frog-marched out of federal agencies by the Capitol Police (who provide security for federal buildings in DC), US Marshalls and local law enforcement in places where the Capital Police do not operate. Now I am not so sure.The MAGA purge at the top of these agencies, installation of Trump loyalists and the overly deferential professionalism of many in the federal work force mitigates against organised resistance to the moves from within the agencies’ rank and file. OTOH, as I have said before, the mix of egos, ideological zealotry and public management inexperience/incompetence may be the Achilles Heel of the Musk/Trump/Maga administration, specifically manifested as Executive over-reach when it comes to firings, hirings, personal and financial data usage, etc. Already the CIA has provided the first names and surname initials of all hires over the last two years, presumably to scrutinise DEI hires, but with the effect that recently recruited field officers and analysts can be outed more easily and subject to any number of pressures. That is not good.
But I do not think that people will resort to deadly force as blowback to the DOGE purges and over reach. Already courts are being flooded by class action and individual lawsuits supported by a number of civil liberties organisations, unions and other interested parties, so many actions may get frozen while litigation is ongoing. That will not stop Musk and Trump from trying out their “Let’s see what sticks to the wall” approach, and it remains to be seen if US institutions, including the courts, can uphold constitutional principles while resisting this Executive abuse of power. At this point it seems like a tool-up.
None of this precludes the possibility that a disgruntled individual or group that has been negatively impacted by DOGE may decide to take matters into their own hands. If so, whatever happens could not happen to a more deserving set of (DOGE) people, including Musk himself.
I’d been wondering what you thought of all this, Pablo. What’s been happening over the past few days is astounding. Reading online comment it seems even though the warnings were out that Project 2025 was going to be introduced as soon as Trump was elected, it appears even those who knew what was proposed (and who opposed it) are horrified, as are people who voted for Trump as they see what’s being done (& worries about their pensions, etc). It’s good to see that some anti-Trump/Musk commentators & groups are organising to try to halt the damage. I’m not sure if it’s true, but I read a short time ago that if legal orders to stop what Musk’s mob are doing are disobeyed they can be thrown into jail. Hope so!
I have also been wondering if this coup from within (can we call it that? Some US historians & others such as Robert Reich definitely are) will spur some sort of vigilante action that could lead to violence & bloodshed. Whatever happens from here on in it seems the future of US is in uncharted waters.
If there’s only 1 thing George Orwell didn’t predict in 1984, it’s that Big Brother didn’t necessarily have to be a state agency.