One must-read delivered daily to your inbox

Musk Cronies Dive Into Treasury Dept Payments Code Base

 Member Newsletter
February 4, 2025 9:48 a.m.
The U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington, Thursday, June 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
This Thursday, June 8, 2017, photo shows the U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington. On Monday, June 12, 2017, the Treasury releases the federal budget for May. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Overnight, Wired reported that, contrary to published reports that DOGE operatives at the Treasury Department are limited to “read only” access to department payment systems, this is not true. A 25-year-old DOGE operative named Marko Elez in fact has admin privileges on these critical systems, which directly control and pay out roughly 95% of payments made by the U.S. government, including Social Security checks, tax refunds and virtually all contract payments. I can independently confirm these details based on conversations going back to the weekend. I can further report that Elez not only has full access to these systems, he has already made extensive changes to the code base for these critical payment system.

Want to keep reading?

Join TPM and get The Backchannel member newsletter along with unlimited access to all TPM articles and member features.

I'm already subscribed

Not yet a TPM Member?

I'm already subscribed

One must-read from Josh Marshall delivered weekly to your inbox

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

One must-read from Josh Marshall delivered weekly to your inbox

Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher & Digital Producer:
Senior Developer:
Senior Designer: