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As Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency burrows through the federal government like a tape worm, it has increasingly requested (and been given) access to large amounts of information on the American public. Now, the New York Times has assembled a modest list of all the data that Musk’s organization could potentially gain access to about the average American and it’s really something to behold. If you’re someone who values their privacy, it’s also sorta terrifying.
The Times reports that the Trump administration is attempting to centralize a host of datasets from agencies across the government, with the apparent goal of the “consolidation” of those siloed records. This, the newspaper says, raises “the prospect of creating a kind of data trove about Americans that the government has never had before.”
The list of potential data categories that DOGE could access via this effort includes credit and debit card numbers, your employer’s name, your IP address, the high school and/or college you went to, your mother’s maiden name, medical and academic records, your spouse’s personal information, tax, credit, health, and employment history, and much, much more. DOGE has sought to gain access to this information via its forced liaisons with a multitude of agencies, including the departments of Education, Labor, Social Security, Treasury, and Health and Human Services, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the General Services Administration, and the Office of Personnel Management.
Indeed, the newspaper says that it has identified approximately “80 data systems in total that have been targeted by DOGE,” though it also notes that its analysis is limited in that it only pertains to systems that “contain personal information about the American public,” and doesn’t include those that might pertain specifically to businesses and federal workers. The complete list provided by the newspaper, which is described as data contained in “the systems DOGE has sought access to,” is as follows:
Academic rank
Active-duty military status
Addiction treatment records
Adjusted gross income
Adopted child’s gender
Adopted child’s name
Adopted child’s placement agency
Adoption credit claimed
Adoption Taxpayer ID Number
Adoptive parent name
Adoptive placement agency
Adoptive placement agency Employer ID Number
Adverse credit history
Alimony paid
Alimony received
Amount of federal taxes owed
Amount of federal taxes refunded
Amount of institutionally provided financing owed
Amount of Medicare conditional payment
Amount of student loan debt
Area of medical residency
Area of study
Auto insurance effective date of coverage
Auto insurance policy number
Automobile medical policies
Bank
Bank information (for your Medicare providers)
Biometric identifiers
Birth certificate
Business address
Business bad debt
Business bank account number
Business closures
Business debts canceled or forgiven
Business depreciation
Business entity type
Business income/loss
Business rents paid
Business repairs and maintenance costs
Business taxpayer ID number
Cancellation of debt
Capital gain/loss
Casualty and theft losses from federal declared disaster
Charitable contributions
Child and dependent care tax credit claimed
Child support received
Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship eligibility indicator
Citizenship status
Classification of instructional programs code
Clean vehicle credit claimed
Company named in consumer complaint
Consumer product complaints (including mortgages, loans, credit cards)
Cost of goods sold (for business)
Country of birth
Country of citizenship
Course of study completion date
Course of study completion status
Course of study program length
Credit and debit card numbers
Credit report information
Criminal history
Date of accident, injury or illness
Date of birth
Date of death
Date of hiring
Date of original divorce or separation agreement
Dates of employment
Dates of medical service
Deductible part of self-employment tax
Degrees
Delinquency on federal debt status
Dependency status
Dependent names
Dependent of a resident alien
Dependent of U.S. citizen/resident alien
Dependent relationship to you
Dependent Social Security numbers
Dependent/spouse of a nonresident alien holding a U.S. visa
Device ID
Digital assets received as ordinary income
Disability entitlement
Disadvantaged background status
Disbaility status
Dividend income
Driver’s license or state ID number
Earnings
Education and training (for unemployment claims)
Education tax credits claimed
Educator expenses paid
Effective tax rate
Employee benefit plans offered (for business)
Employee ID number
Employer account number
Employer address
Employer name
Employer reported total employees
Employer-provided adoption benefits
Employer-reported total wages paid by quarter
Employment information
Employment status
Employment termination dates
Energy efficient commercial buildings deduction
Energy efficient home improvement credit claimed
Entitlement benefits held by related Social Security number holders
Expected student enrollment
Failure to file taxes penalty
Failure to pay taxes penalty
Family court records
Family size
Farm income/loss
Federal Employer ID Number
Federal housing assistance received
Federal income tax withheld
Financial aid profile
First-time homebuyer credit claimed
Foreign activities
Foreign address
Foreign bank and financial accounts
Foreign business partners
Foreign coverage credits
Foreign earned income exclusion
Foreign interests in business
Foreign tax ID number
Free or reduced-price school lunch received
Full name
Funding arrangements of employer group health plan
Gambling income
Gender
Gross business profit
Gross business receipts or sales
Health insurance claim number
Health insurance effective date of coverage
Health insurance policy number
Health provider name and number
Health savings account deduction claimed
Health supplier name and number
High school
Higher ed institutions designated to receive FAFSA form
Home/mailing address
Home/personal phone number
Homeless status
Hospitalization records
Household employee name
Household employee Social Security number
Household employee wages
Incarcerated student indicator flag
Incarceration status
Income and assets (for student aid eligibility)
Inventions
Investment interest received
IP address
I.R.A. deduction
Job title
Jury duty pay
Late tax filing interest
Level of postsecondary education study
Login security questions and answers
Login.gov password
Marginal tax rate
Marital status
Marriage certificate
Medicaid received
Medicaid waiver payments
Medical and dental expenses paid
Medical claims payments
Medical diagnoses
Medical notes
Medical records number
Medical residency date completed
Medicare invoices (sent to your provider)
Medicare payments received (by your provider)
Military service credits
Mortgage interest paid
Mother’s maiden name
Moving expenses
Name/address of business partnership
Names of other corporate officers of an LLC
Naturalization records
Nature of medical service
Net farm profit/loss
Nonresident alien status
Nonresident alien student, professor or researcher
Nonresident alient student, professor or researcher
Number of agricultural employees employed
Number of employees
Number of family members in college
Occupation title or code
Olympic and Paralympic medals, prize money
Ordinary business income
Parent demographic information
Parent educational attainment
Parent killed in the line of duty
Parental income and assets (for student aid eligibility)
Parents’ demographic information
Passport number
Pell Grant additional eligibility indicator
Pell Grant collection status indicator
Pell Grant status
Personal and professional references (for federal job applicants)
Personal bank account number
Personal bank account routing number
Personal email address
Personal tax payment history
Personal taxpayer ID number
Photographic identifiers
Photographs of government-issued IDs
Physician name and number
Place of birth
Plans for federal grant funding (including schedules, diagrams, pictures)
Postsecondary education institution
Power of attorney name and address
Prescription drug coverage
Principal business activity
Principal business product or service
Prior status as a legally emancipated minor
Prior status as a ward of the court
Prior status as an orphan
Prior status in a legal guardianship
Prior status in foster care
Private health insurer/underwriter group name
Private health insurer/underwriter group number
Private health insurer/underwriter name
Prizes and award income received
Psychological or psychiatric health records
Qualified electric vehicle credit claimed
Railroad retirement credits
Reason for separation (for unemployment claims)
Relationships to other Social Security number holders
Rental management fees paid
Rental, royalty, partnership, etc. income/loss
Rents received
Residential clean energy credit claimed
Royalties received
Salaries and wages earned
Salary history (for federal job applicants)
Scholarship and fellowship grants received
Seasonable employer status
Self-employed health insurance deduction
Self-employment tax
Self-photograph
Sex
Social Security date of filing
Social Security number
Social Security numbers of other corporate officers of an LLC
Social Security primary insurance amount
Social Security/S.S.I. representative payee
Sources and amounts of non-Social Security income
Sources of income
Spousal income and assets (for student aid eligibility)
Spouse demographic information
Spouse of a resident alien
Spouse of U.S. citizen/resident alien
Spouse’s demographic information
Spouse’s Social Security number
Standard employee identifier
State and local taxes paid
Stock options received
Student entitlement
Student load forbearances
Student loan amount
Student loan balances
Student loan cancellations
Student loan claims
Student loan collections
Student loan defaults
Student loan deferments
Student loan disbursement dates
Student loan disbursements
Student loan ID
Student loan interest deduction
Student loan overpayments
Student loan promissory notes
Student loan refunds
Student loan repayment plan
Student loan status
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance received
Supplemental Security Income eligbility
Supplemental Security Income eligibility amount
Supplemental Security Income payment amounts
Tax filing status (married, individual, filing jointly)
Tax preparer tax ID number
Taxable dependent care benefits
Taxable income
Taxable interest income
Taxable I.R.A. distributions
Taxable pension distributions
Taxable Social Security benefits
Taxable state/local refunds
Taxes paid on wagers
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families received
Tests for H.I.V./AIDS
Tip income
Total number of dependents
Total number of tax exemptions
Total payments to all employees
Total tax owed and paid
Type of bank account (checking/savings)
U.S. resident alien status
U.S. visa expiration date
U.S. visa number
Unaccompanied alien child status
Unaccompanied alien children sponsor status
Unemployment compensation received
Vehicle identifiers
Veteran disability determination dates
Veteran status
Visa expiration date
Wages earned while incarcerated
WIC nutrition assistance received
Work email address
Work experience (for federal job applicants)
Work phone number
Workers’ compensation coverage
Workers’ compensation offset
When reached for comment by Gizmodo, the White House’s Principal Deputy Press Secretary, Harrison Fields, told us: “Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. 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.”
Trump has enabled DOGE to access this data via a barrage of executive orders. That access has subsequently become the subject of multiple legal complaints, as groups representing Americans’ privacy have sought to clarify why, exactly, Musk’s team needs access to all of that information. So far, the courts have proven to be a limited buffer on DOGE’s reach, however. While a federal judge temporarily limited DOGE’s access to three federal agencies (the Treasury, the Department of Education, and the Office of Personnel Management) last month, an appeals court reinstated the organization’s access to those agencies just two days ago. DOGE has claimed that it needs this kind of access to root out “fraud” and because it is updating the government’s digital systems.
The people Musk has entrusted to helm the DOGE project should also give any privacy-wary American pause. Included among the supposedly competent and trustworthy group is a 19-year-old nicknamed “Big Balls” who, according to a report from Reuters, previously provided tech support to a cyber crime ring that “bragged about trafficking in stolen data.” So, yeah, I’m sure your information is in good hands.
