DOGE's AI Surveillance of Federal Workers Raises Ethical Concerns

Exclusive: Musk's DOGE using AI to snoop on U.S. federal workers, sources say

April 8 (Reuters) - Trump administration officials have told some U.S. government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency's communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. While much of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost cutting. The DOGE team is also using the Signal app to communicate, according to one other person with direct knowledge of the matter, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages can be set to disappear after a period of time. And they have "heavily" deployed Musk's Grok AI chatbot - an aspiring ChatGPT rival - as part of their work slashing the federal government, said that person. Reuters could not establish exactly how Grok was being used. The White House, DOGE and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests, or to go after political targets. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said DOGE's use of privacy-focused Signal adds to growing concerns over data security practices after top Trump administration officials came under fire last month for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high-level planning for military operations in Yemen. "If they're using Signal and not backing up every message to federal files, then they are acting unlawfully," she said. Reuters' interviews with nearly 20 people with knowledge of DOGE's operations - and an examination of hundreds of pages of court documents from lawsuits challenging DOGE's access to data - highlight its unorthodox usage of AI and other technology in federal government operations. At the Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, some EPA managers were told by Trump appointees that Musk's team is rolling out AI to monitor workers, including looking for language in communications considered hostile to Trump or Musk, the two people said. The EPA, which enforces laws such as the Clean Air Act and works to protect the environment, has come under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration. Since January, it has put nearly 600 employees on leave and said it will eliminate 65% of its budget, which could require further staffing reductions. Trump-appointed officials who had taken up EPA posts told managers that DOGE was using AI to monitor communication apps and software, including Microsoft Teams, which is widely used for virtual calls and chats, said the two sources familiar with these comments. "We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language," a third source familiar with the EPA said. Reuters could not independently confirm if the AI was being implemented. The Trump officials said DOGE would be looking for people whose work did not align with the administration's mission, the first two sources said. "Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do," a manager said, according to one of the sources. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment. Musk has depicted DOGE as a tech-driven effort to make the U.S. federal government more efficient by targeting waste, fraud and abuse. He has said the goal was to trim $1 trillion in spending, or 15% of the U.S. annual budget. Few dispute the U.S. government and its aging computer systems are due for modernization. But Democrats say Musk and Trump are purging the government of non-partisan public servants and installing loyalists who would turn a blind eye to corruption. Many Republicans and independents are also critical of DOGE's actions. Clark, the ethics specialist, said the prospective surveillance was worrisome. It "sounds like an abuse of government power to suppress or deter speech that the president of the United States doesn't like," she said. Last year, before Trump was elected, Musk suggested AI could be used to replace government workers, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments. "The concept was that through taking the government data that they could build the most dynamic AI system ever," the person said, adding that AI could then "do the work." The complex endeavor would entail teaching AI systems to automate some of the work currently done by federal employees. As a special government employee, Musk is prohibited under ethics laws from involving himself in government activities that would benefit him or his companies. TRANSPARENCY QUESTIONS In addition to the use of Signal, some DOGE staffers are bypassing other vetting processes and chains of custody for official government documents by working simultaneously out of Google Docs instead of circulating single copies of drafts, a source briefed by a government official said. "There's multiple people in one Google Doc editing things simultaneously," the source said, referring to the online word processing software. That was partly how DOGE was working so quickly, the source added. The Trump administration has argued that DOGE, as an arm of the Executive Office of the President, is not subject to laws that allow the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. Citing DOGE's "unusual secrecy," including its use of Signal, a federal judge on March 10 ordered the group to start handing records to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog that had sued to request DOGE documents under federal freedom of information laws. As of Monday, the watchdog said, no records had been turned over. As Musk embeds his young DOGE team of engineers and aides deep inside the government's digital infrastructure, accusations that DOGE is deliberately operating in secrecy have emerged in court cases challenging the authority of Musk, the world's richest man, to remake the federal government. DOGE employees have dramatically tightened administrative controls at some agencies, keeping staffers in the dark while making significant operational changes, according to interviews and court filings. When Musk's team took control of the government's human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, in late January, they shut OPM employees out of a database containing sensitive personal information of tens of millions of current and former federal workers, according to court filings and Reuter. OPM is at the heart of the administration's vision to shrink the government, issuing government-wide directives that are seen as blueprints for downsizing the civil service. Since late January, more than 100 tech staff at OPM have lost access to the cloud where key applications are stored, according to two people familiar with the matter. Only two people still have access -- one career staffer and Greg Hogan, a political appointee who worked at an AI startup and is now OPM's chief information officer, the sources added. Hogan did not respond to a request for comment. Ulmer and Dastin reported from San Francisco; Taylor and Alper reported from Washington. Additional reporting by Joseph Tanfani, Valerie Volcovici and Humeyra Pamuk. Editing by Jason Szep Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence Alexandra Ulmer Thomson Reuters Alexandra covers the 2024 U.S. presidential race, with a focus on Republicans, donors and AI. Previously, she spent four years in Venezuela reporting on the humanitarian crisis and investigating corruption. She has also worked in India, Chile and Argentina. Alexandra was Reuters' Reporter of the Year and has won an Overseas Press Club award. Marisa Taylor Thomson Reuters Marisa Taylor, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, has more than two decades of experience covering business, healthcare, the Justice Department, and national security. As a Washington, D.C.-based reporter, she helped break the Panama Papers, which exposed offshore companies linked to more than 140 politicians. Taylor was also part of a team that exposed the CIA's monitoring of Senate Intelligence Committee staff. She previously reported out of Texas, California, Virginia and Mexico. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staff-reuters https://www.reuters.com/authors/marisa-taylor/ Jeffrey Dastin Thomson Reuters Jeffrey Dastin is a correspondent for Reuters based in San Francisco, where he reports on the technology industry and artificial intelligence. He joined Reuters in 2014, originally writing about airlines and travel from the New York bureau. Dastin graduated from Yale University with a degree in history. He was part of a team that examined lobbying by Amazon.com around the world, for which he won a SOPA Award in 2022.

DOGE is reportedly using AI to monitor government comms for anti-Musk and anti-Trump chatter

The initiative's staffers are also said to be using Signal to communicate with each other. A new report from has shed light on how Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is employing tech in its processes, including the alleged use of to monitor communications. The initiative is said to be keeping an eye out for chatter that's considered hostile toward Musk or President Donald Trump. Some managers at the Environmental Protection Agency have reportedly been told that DOGE is deploying AI to monitor communication apps and software such as the widely used Microsoft Teams for anti-Musk or anti-Trump sentiment. It's said that DOGE is watching out for individuals whose work didn't square with the administration's agenda. One manager reportedly told EPA staffers to "Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do." The EPA didn't explicitly state whether AI was being used to monitor employees for signs of disloyalty, though it told Reuters that it was "looking at AI to better optimize agency functions and administrative efficiencies." It added that it wasn't using AI "as it makes personnel decisions in concert with DOGE." The EPA has placed nearly 600 workers on leave and pledged to cut its budget by 65 percent amid DOGE's government-wide cost-slashing efforts. Meanwhile, it's said that DOGE staffers are using to communicate with each other. This could be a violation of federal record-keeping rules given the app's ability to automatically delete messages after a certain period of time. And that's not to mention the security risks of Some DOGE workers are also said to be using Google Docs to edit official documents collaboratively, in effect bypassing usual vetting procedures and chains of custody. In addition, staffers are reportedly making use of Musk's chatbot Grok AI in their work, but exactly what they're doing with it remains unclear. It that the White House wants federal agencies to make full use of "American AI." DOGE has been accused of operating under a shroud of secrecy. The administration has contended that since DOGE is operating under the Executive Office of the President, it's not obligated to allow the public to request access to its records, which would be the case if it were an official government agency. Nevertheless, a federal judge last month ordered DOGE to start providing records of its operations to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sued for access to such documents under freedom of information laws. The watchdog told Reuters that, as of Monday, it had received no records from DOGE.

Federal workers fear Musk's 'efficiency' agency is using AI to spy on them: 'They are omnipresent'

The billionaire's Doge may be secretly recording meetings in at least two agencies, according to emails from senior officials At the Department of Veterans Affairs, a senior official warned employees in an email that virtual meetings were being secretly recorded. Anyone dissatisfied with Donald Trump's decisions should be careful about voicing their opinions, the official cautioned. Over at the state department, IT staff said new monitoring software has been loaded onto computers. Some staffers have started using white noise machines in their offices, or have even turned on an office breakroom sink, to muffle conversations in case there might be any hot mics within range. A supervisor at one water management organization that works closely with the Environmental Protection Agency sent a warning to staffers that their meetings and phone calls with the agency were being monitored by an artificial intelligence tool. Anecdotes like these are rife among federal employees now, amid fears that senior agency leaders or agents from Elon Musk's so-called "department of government efficiency" may be snooping on conversations, using software to track computer activity and, possibly, using artificial intelligence to scan for disloyalty or mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) buzzwords. Many fear losing their jobs, as thousands already have. "It's like being in a horror film where you know something out there [wants] to kill you but you never know when or how or who it is," one employee from the US Department of Housing & Urban Development said. These details arise from conversations with more than two dozen federal employees who spoke with the Guardian and Crooked Media's What A Day newsletter, and shared emails from agency officials and screengrabs. The employees described a culture of fear among those who remain in the federal workforce, after waves of layoffs left many of their peers unemployed or stuck in professional limbo amid confusing and unresolved legal cases. The US government has long been transparent with federal employees about its ability to monitor them with software. But now, top officials across the government are warning employees to exercise extreme caution, over fears about what this administration might do with the information, what technology might be used, who will receive the info and whether stray talk might form the basis for fresh job cuts. Trump administration representatives denied some of the assertions and concerns raised by sources for this article, but didn't respond to all of them. The EPA denied recording meetings, but didn't specifically address the use of artificial intelligence. Other agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs and education department, didn't respond to requests for comment. A manager at the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA), which brings together state officials to work with the EPA on water quality and management, recently distributed an email warning staffers that meetings with EPA staffers may be monitored by AI. The email reads: "We recently learned that all EPA phones (landline/mobile), all Teams/Zoom virtual meetings, and calendar entries are being transcribed/monitored." The information is then fed into "an AI tool" to be analyzed and scrutinized, the email's author continues, adding "we saw" an AI notetaker listed as a participant in one of the meetings. "I do not know if DOGE is doing the analysis or ... the agency itself," the author writes. Participants aren't being notified that the call is being transcribed, the email states. The EPA denied that it's recording meetings. It also didn't specifically address the question of an AI tool. "This is fake news," an EPA spokesperson said in a statement. "EPA is not monitoring or transcribing phone calls, meetings, or calendar entries." But Trump political appointees have told EPA managers that Musk's team is implementing AI to monitor workers and look for disparaging comments about Trump or Musk, according to a Reuters report. During a meeting on Wednesday morning, EPA managers told employees that Doge is "using AI to scan through agency communications to find any anti-Musk, anti-Doge, or anti-Trump statements", an employee told the Guardian and What A Day. Employees should be "very careful" about what they say in private messages and virtual meetings. "I honestly just think the Doge spying is kind of pathetic," the employee said. "If they're that confident about what they're doing, they wouldn't be so paranoid." According to another email shared with the Guardian and What A Day, a Department of Veterans Affairs official also warned employees that virtual meetings are being secretly recorded. The VA didn't respond to a request for comment. Top veterans affairs researchers across the country were recently put on administrative leave, according to an email obtained by What A Day. One of them was put on administrative leave for the "inappropriate distribution of VA material", according to the internal email. But it's not clear whether the individual was accused of speaking to the press or committing some other infraction. At the now-shuttered US Agency for International Development (USAID), employees said they discovered that their private communications were being monitored by leadership who arrived after Trump's inauguration, prompting staff to abandon official channels altogether. "They went into our chats, like our private group chats," said a former USAID employee who lost their position during the mass firing wave in February. "It was [Acting Administrator] Jason Gray, not Doge directly. But he was put in place when they fired everybody" because he knew the systems well. The intrusions became so blatant that Gray - who was also the agency's chief information officer - suddenly appeared in one group chat with over 40 contractors. "We knew they were watching," the former USAID employee, who was in the chat, said. "Everybody went on either Signal or WhatsApp because nobody was trusting [leadership] at that point." Gray's turbulent tenure culminated in USAID's website being taken offline. In February, IT staff at the state department warned some employees that monitoring software was being uploaded onto computers, according to an employee, who provided images showing a record of their individual keystrokes being tracked in the software. Others worry that Doge could begin combing through conversations for anti-Trump sentiments or diversity, equity and inclusion "buzzwords", which could then be used as grounds to fire employees. Supervisors began sharing unofficial guidance to "act as though we are always on a hot mic", the state department employee said. "We're turning on sinks and shit to have conversations," they added. "It's really funny to think about the Dogebags sitting there, watching and learning in real time, that the 'deep state' is really a bunch of goobers just doing our boring jobs for middling pay." Government employees should expect that they're being watched, top officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs said at an employee town hall in New England. "There shouldn't be any expectation of privacy," an official told employees, according to a list of questions and answers at the town hall provided to What A Day. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in February, managers warned some employees to be extra careful about what they say on calls, according to an employee. "I personally think they are watching us," they said. Some workers at the education department are fearful of speaking out, describing the atmosphere as "total paranoia". Doge has infiltrated the education department, where half of the staff has already been fired as Trump seeks to dismantle the entire agency. "They are just so omnipresent and the work environment is so toxic and hostile, it feels like anything is possible," a former senior education department official said about the potential for surveillance.

Exclusive-Musk's DOGE Using AI to Snoop on U.S. Federal Workers, Sources Say

(Reuters) - Trump administration officials have told some U.S. government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency's communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. While much of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost cutting. The DOGE team is also using the Signal app to communicate, according to one other person with direct knowledge of the matter, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages can be set to disappear after a period of time. And they have "heavily" deployed Musk's Grok AI chatbot - an aspiring ChatGPT rival - as part of their work slashing the federal government, said that person. Reuters could not establish exactly how Grok was being used. The White House, DOGE and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests, or to go after political targets. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said DOGE's use of privacy-focused Signal adds to growing concerns over data security practices after top Trump administration officials came under fire last month for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high-level planning for military operations in Yemen. "If they're using Signal and not backing up every message to federal files, then they are acting unlawfully," she said. Reuters' interviews with nearly 20 people with knowledge of DOGE's operations - and an examination of hundreds of pages of court documents from lawsuits challenging DOGE's access to data - highlight its unorthodox usage of AI and other technology in federal government operations. At the Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, some EPA managers were told by Trump appointees that Musk's team is rolling out AI to monitor workers, including looking for language in communications considered hostile to Trump or Musk, the two people said. The EPA, which enforces laws such as the Clean Air Act and works to protect the environment, has come under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration. Since January, it has put nearly 600 employees on leave and said it will eliminate 65% of its budget, which could require further staffing reductions. Trump-appointed officials who had taken up EPA posts told managers that DOGE was using AI to monitor communication apps and software, including Microsoft Teams, which is widely used for virtual calls and chats, said the two sources familiar with these comments. "We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language," a third source familiar with the EPA said. Reuters could not independently confirm if the AI was being implemented. The Trump officials said DOGE would be looking for people whose work did not align with the administration's mission, the first two sources said. "Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do," a manager said, according to one of the sources. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment. Musk has depicted DOGE as a tech-driven effort to make the U.S. federal government more efficient by targeting waste, fraud and abuse. He has said the goal was to trim $1 trillion in spending, or 15% of the U.S. annual budget. Few dispute the U.S. government and its aging computer systems are due for modernization. But Democrats say Musk and Trump are purging the government of non-partisan public servants and installing loyalists who would turn a blind eye to corruption. Many Republicans and independents are also critical of DOGE's actions. Clark, the ethics specialist, said the prospective surveillance was worrisome. It "sounds like an abuse of government power to suppress or deter speech that the president of the United States doesn't like," she said. Last year, before Trump was elected, Musk suggested AI could be used to replace government workers, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments. "The concept was that through taking the government data that they could build the most dynamic AI system ever," the person said, adding that AI could then "do the work." The complex endeavor would entail teaching AI systems to automate some of the work currently done by federal employees. As a special government employee, Musk is prohibited under ethics laws from involving himself in government activities that would benefit him or his companies. TRANSPARENCY QUESTIONS In addition to the use of Signal, some DOGE staffers are bypassing other vetting processes and chains of custody for official government documents by working simultaneously out of Google Docs instead of circulating single copies of drafts, a source briefed by a government official said. "There's multiple people in one Google Doc editing things simultaneously," the source said, referring to the online word processing software. That was partly how DOGE was working so quickly, the source added. The Trump administration has argued that DOGE, as an arm of the Executive Office of the President, is not subject to laws that allow the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. Citing DOGE's "unusual secrecy," including its use of Signal, a federal judge on March 10 ordered the group to start handing records to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog that had sued to request DOGE documents under federal freedom of information laws. As of Monday, the watchdog said, no records had been turned over. As Musk embeds his young DOGE team of engineers and aides deep inside the government's digital infrastructure, accusations that DOGE is deliberately operating in secrecy have emerged in court cases challenging the authority of Musk, the world's richest man, to remake the federal government. DOGE employees have dramatically tightened administrative controls at some agencies, keeping staffers in the dark while making significant operational changes, according to interviews and court filings. When Musk's team took control of the government's human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, in late January, they shut OPM employees out of a database containing sensitive personal information of tens of millions of current and former federal workers, according to court filings and Reuters' previous reporting. OPM is at the heart of the administration's vision to shrink the government, issuing government-wide directives that are seen as blueprints for downsizing the civil service. Since late January, more than 100 tech staff at OPM have lost access to the cloud where key applications are stored, according to two people familiar with the matter. Only two people still have access -- one career staffer and Greg Hogan, a political appointee who worked at an AI startup and is now OPM's chief information officer, the sources added. Hogan did not respond to a request for comment. (Ulmer and Dastin reported from San Francisco; Taylor and Alper reported from Washington. Additional reporting by Joseph Tanfani, Valerie Volcovici and Humeyra Pamuk. Editing by Jason Szep)

DOGE's AI Monitoring of Federal Workers Is Alarming -- But Not Illegal

There's apparent confirmation of February allegations from federal workers who claimed they'd found spyware installed on their computers that could monitor worker activity after Musk's Department of Government Efficiency had swept through their offices on their mission to purge what it called excessive government spending. The theory was that DOGE was hunting out "signs of progressive thinking or disloyalty to Trump," CBS reported at the time. Given the brusque, sometimes notably unkind way Musk's teams have comported themselves, the news was worrisome. Now Reuters reports that these rumors and suspicions may be true, and Musk's team is using AI to spy on the communications of at least one federal agency. Some managers at the Environmental Protection Agency were told by Trump appointees that DOGE was deploying AI to monitor for language it considered to be "hostile to Trump or Musk," Reuters reported. The news service added that this level of surveillance would be an extreme use of tech to spot disloyalty among a workforce that is already battered by extreme cost-cutting efforts and mass firings. It's worth remembering that the Trump administration has also ordered a full return to office mandate for federal staff -- a policy that's known to be highly disliked by workers who got used to a degree of hybrid or remote work during the pandemic -- and that in some cases workers returning to their offices found their facilities in a state of dramatic disarray.

The A.I. Doctrine Dismantling America's Innovation Workforce

Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is slashing jobs, feeding confidential data to private A.I. and watching federal employees like it's a Black Mirror reboot. Under the flimsy pretext of efficiency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is gutting its workforce. An independent report suggests that DOGE slashed around 222,000 jobs in March alone. The cuts are hitting hardest in areas where the U.S. can least afford to fall behind: artificial intelligence and semiconductor development. Now, the bigger question is beyond gutting the workforce -- it is that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is using artificial intelligence to snoop through federal employees' communications, hunting for any whiff of disloyalty. It is already creeping around the EPA. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters DOGE's A.I.-first push to shrink federal agencies feels like Silicon Valley gone rogue -- grabbing data, automating functions and rushing out half-baked tools like the GSA's "intern-level" chatbot to justify cuts. It's reckless. Besides that, according to a report -- DOGE "technologists" are deploying Musk's Grok A.I. to monitor Environmental Protection Agency employees with plans for sweeping government cuts. Federal workers, long accustomed to email transparency due to public records laws, now face hyper-intelligent tools dissecting their every word. How can federal employees trust a system where A.I. surveillance is paired with mass layoffs? Is the United States quietly drifting towards a surveillance dystopia, with artificial intelligence amplifying the threat? AI-Powered Surveillance Can the A.I. model trained on government data be trusted? Besides that, using A.I. in a complex bureaucracy invites classic pitfalls: biases -- issues GSA's own help page flags without clear enforcement. The increasing consolidation of information within A.I. models poses an escalating threat to privacy. Besides that, Musk and DOGE are also violating the The Privacy Act of 1974, which came into effect during the Watergate scandal to curb the misuse of government-held data. According to the act, no one -- not even special government employees -- should access agency "systems of records" without proper authorization under the law. Now, DOGE seems to be violating the Privacy Act in the name of efficiency. Is the push for government efficiency worth jeopardizing Americans' privacy? Surveillance isn't just about cameras or keywords anymore. It's about who processes the signals, who owns the models and who decides what matters. Without strong public governance, this direction ends with corporate-controlled infrastructure shaping the government's operations. It sets a dangerous precedent. Public trust in A.I. will weaken if people believe decisions are made by opaque systems outside democratic control. The federal government is supposed to set standards, not outsource them. What's at stake? The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently slashed more than 150 employees, and internal reports suggest even deeper cuts are coming. The NSF funds critical A.I. and semiconductor research across universities and public institutions. These programs support everything from foundational machine learning models to chip architecture innovation. The White House is also proposing a two-thirds budget cut to NSF. This wipes out the very base that supports American competitiveness in A.I.. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) faces similar damage. Nearly 500 NIST employees are on the chopping block, including most of the teams responsible for the CHIPS Act's incentive programs and R&D strategies. NIST runs the U.S. A.I. Safety Institute and created the A.I. Risk Management Framework. Is DOGE Feeding Confidential Public Data to the Private Sector? DOGE's involvement also raises a more critical concern about confidentiality. The department has quietly gained sweeping access to federal records and agency data sets. Reports suggest A.I. tools are combing this data to identify functions for automation. So, the administration is now letting private actors process sensitive information about government operations, public services and regulatory workflows. This is a risk multiplier. A.I. systems trained on sensitive data need oversight, not just efficiency goals. The move shifts public data into private hands without clear policy guardrails. It also opens the door to biased or inaccurate systems making decisions that affect real lives. Algorithms don't replace accountability. There is no transparency around what data DOGE uses, which models it deploys, or how agencies validate the outputs. Federal workers are being terminated based on A.I. recommendations. The logic, weightings and assumptions of those models are not available to the public. That's a governance failure. What to expect? Surveillance doesn't make a government efficient, without rules, oversight, or even basic transparency; it just breeds fear. And when artificial intelligence is used to monitor loyalty or flag words like "diversity," we're not streamlining the government -- we're gutting trust in it. Federal workers shouldn't wonder if they're being watched for doing their jobs or saying the wrong thing in a meeting. This also highlights the need for better, more reliable A.I. models to meet the specific challenges and standards required in public service.

Is Elon Musk's DOGE Team spying on federal employees using AI for Anti-Trump sentiments?

Trump administration officials allege Elon Musk's DOGE team is using AI to monitor federal agency communications for anti-Trump sentiment. Concerns arise over data security and potential misuse of information. DOGE's use of Signal and Grok AI raises transparency issues, with critics fearing political targeting. The EPA is reportedly under scrutiny, with AI monitoring worker communications.Trump administration officials have told some U.S. government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency's communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. While much of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost cutting. The DOGE team is also using the Signal app to communicate, according to one other person with direct knowledge of the matter, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages can be set to disappear after a period of time. And they have "heavily" deployed Musk's Grok AI chatbot - an aspiring ChatGPT rival - as part of their work slashing the federal government, said that person. Reuters could not establish exactly how Grok was being used. The White House, DOGE and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests, or to go after political targets. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said DOGE's use of privacy-focused Signal adds to growing concerns over data security practices after top Trump administration officials came under fire last month for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high-level planning for military operations in Yemen. "If they're using Signal and not backing up every message to federal files, then they are acting unlawfully," she said. Reuters' interviews with nearly 20 people with knowledge of DOGE's operations - and an examination of hundreds of pages of court documents from lawsuits challenging DOGE's access to data - highlight its unorthodox usage of AI and other technology in federal government operations. ALSO READ: Rift between Elon Musk and Trump official after former loses $300bn for first time since Nov 2024 amid rift reports? At the Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, some EPA managers were told by Trump appointees that Musk's team is rolling out AI to monitor workers, including looking for language in communications considered hostile to Trump or Musk, the two people said. The EPA, which enforces laws such as the Clean Air Act and works to protect the environment, has come under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration. Since January, it has put nearly 600 employees on leave and said it will eliminate 65% of its budget, which could require further staffing reductions. Trump-appointed officials who had taken up EPA posts told managers that DOGE was using AI to monitor communication apps and software, including Microsoft Teams, which is widely used for virtual calls and chats, said the two sources familiar with these comments. "We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language," a third source familiar with the EPA said. Reuters could not independently confirm if the AI was being implemented. The Trump officials said DOGE would be looking for people whose work did not align with the administration's mission, the first two sources said. "Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do," a manager said, according to one of the sources. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment. Musk has depicted DOGE as a tech-driven effort to make the U.S. federal government more efficient by targeting waste, fraud and abuse. He has said the goal was to trim $1 trillion in spending, or 15% of the U.S. annual budget. Few dispute the U.S. government and its aging computer systems are due for modernization. But Democrats say Musk and Trump are purging the government of non-partisan public servants and installing loyalists who would turn a blind eye to corruption. Many Republicans and independents are also critical of DOGE's actions. ALSO READ: 'It's an honour': Trump makes another bizarre tariff remark, calls it as 'America first' move Clark, the ethics specialist, said the prospective surveillance was worrisome. It "sounds like an abuse of government power to suppress or deter speech that the president of the United States doesn't like," she said. Last year, before Trump was elected, Musk suggested AI could be used to replace government workers, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments. "The concept was that through taking the government data that they could build the most dynamic AI system ever," the person said, adding that AI could then "do the work." The complex endeavor would entail teaching AI systems to automate some of the work currently done by federal employees. As a special government employee, Musk is prohibited under ethics laws from involving himself in government activities that would benefit him or his companies. In addition to the use of Signal, some DOGE staffers are bypassing other vetting processes and chains of custody for official government documents by working simultaneously out of Google Docs instead of circulating single copies of drafts, a source briefed by a government official said. "There's multiple people in one Google Doc editing things simultaneously," the source said, referring to the online word processing software. That was partly how DOGE was working so quickly, the source added. The Trump administration has argued that DOGE, as an arm of the Executive Office of the President, is not subject to laws that allow the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. ALSO READ: Did Warren Buffett's decision to sit on $300bn cash pile pay off as 500 richest moguls lose half a trillion dollars? Citing DOGE's "unusual secrecy," including its use of Signal, a federal judge on March 10 ordered the group to start handing records to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog that had sued to request DOGE documents under federal freedom of information laws. As of Monday, the watchdog said, no records had been turned over. As Musk embeds his young DOGE team of engineers and aides deep inside the government's digital infrastructure, accusations that DOGE is deliberately operating in secrecy have emerged in court cases challenging the authority of Musk, the world's richest man, to remake the federal government. DOGE employees have dramatically tightened administrative controls at some agencies, keeping staffers in the dark while making significant operational changes, according to interviews and court filings. When Musk's team took control of the government's human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, in late January, they shut OPM employees out of a database containing sensitive personal information of tens of millions of current and former federal workers, according to court filings and Reuters' previous reporting. OPM is at the heart of the administration's vision to shrink the government, issuing government-wide directives that are seen as blueprints for downsizing the civil service. Since late January, more than 100 tech staff at OPM have lost access to the cloud where key applications are stored, according to two people familiar with the matter. Only two people still have access - one career staffer and Greg Hogan, a political appointee who worked at an AI startup and is now OPM's chief information officer, the sources added. Hogan did not respond to a request for comment.

Elon Musk's DOGE using AI to snoop on US federal workers, sources say

The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests, or to go after political targets.Trump administration officials have told some US government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency's communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. While much of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost cutting. The DOGE team is also using the Signal app to communicate, according to one other person with direct knowledge of the matter, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages can be set to disappear after a period of time. And they have "heavily" deployed Musk's Grok AI chatbot - an aspiring ChatGPT rival - as part of their work slashing the federal government, said that person. Reuters could not establish exactly how Grok was being used. The White House, DOGE and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests, or to go after political targets. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said DOGE's use of privacy-focused Signal adds to growing concerns over data security practices after top Trump administration officials came under fire last month for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high-level planning for military operations in Yemen. "If they're using Signal and not backing up every message to federal files, then they are acting unlawfully," she said. Reuters' interviews with nearly 20 people with knowledge of DOGE's operations - and an examination of hundreds of pages of court documents from lawsuits challenging DOGE's access to data - highlight its unorthodox usage of AI and other technology in federal government operations. At the Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, some EPA managers were told by Trump appointees that Musk's team is rolling out AI to monitor workers, including looking for language in communications considered hostile to Trump or Musk, the two people said. The EPA, which enforces laws such as the Clean Air Act and works to protect the environment, has come under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration. Since January, it has put nearly 600 employees on leave and said it will eliminate 65% of its budget, which could require further staffing reductions. Trump-appointed officials who had taken up EPA posts told managers that DOGE was using AI to monitor communication apps and software, including Microsoft Teams, which is widely used for virtual calls and chats, said the two sources familiar with these comments. "We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language," a third source familiar with the EPA said. Reuters could not independently confirm if the AI was being implemented. The Trump officials said DOGE would be looking for people whose work did not align with the administration's mission, the first two sources said. "Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do," a manager said, according to one of the sources. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment. Musk has depicted DOGE as a tech-driven effort to make the U.S. federal government more efficient by targeting waste, fraud and abuse. He has said the goal was to trim $1 trillion in spending, or 15% of the U.S. annual budget. Few dispute the U.S. government and its aging computer systems are due for modernization. But Democrats say Musk and Trump are purging the government of non-partisan public servants and installing loyalists who would turn a blind eye to corruption. Many Republicans and independents are also critical of DOGE's actions. Clark, the ethics specialist, said the prospective surveillance was worrisome. It "sounds like an abuse of government power to suppress or deter speech that the president of the United States doesn't like," she said. Last year, before Trump was elected, Musk suggested AI could be used to replace government workers, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments. "The concept was that through taking the government data that they could build the most dynamic AI system ever," the person said, adding that AI could then "do the work." The complex endeavor would entail teaching AI systems to automate some of the work currently done by federal employees. As a special government employee, Musk is prohibited under ethics laws from involving himself in government activities that would benefit him or his companies. Transparency questions In addition to the use of Signal, some DOGE staffers are bypassing other vetting processes and chains of custody for official government documents by working simultaneously out of Google Docs instead of circulating single copies of drafts, a source briefed by a government official said. "There's multiple people in one Google Doc editing things simultaneously," the source said, referring to the online word processing software. That was partly how DOGE was working so quickly, the source added. The Trump administration has argued that DOGE, as an arm of the Executive Office of the President, is not subject to laws that allow the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. Citing DOGE's "unusual secrecy," including its use of Signal, a federal judge on March 10 ordered the group to start handing records to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog that had sued to request DOGE documents under federal freedom of information laws. As of Monday, the watchdog said, no records had been turned over. As Musk embeds his young DOGE team of engineers and aides deep inside the government's digital infrastructure, accusations that DOGE is deliberately operating in secrecy have emerged in court cases challenging the authority of Musk, the world's richest man, to remake the federal government. DOGE employees have dramatically tightened administrative controls at some agencies, keeping staffers in the dark while making significant operational changes, according to interviews and court filings. When Musk's team took control of the government's human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, in late January, they shut OPM employees out of a database containing sensitive personal information of tens of millions of current and former federal workers, according to court filings and Reuters' previous reporting. OPM is at the heart of the administration's vision to shrink the government, issuing government-wide directives that are seen as blueprints for downsizing the civil service. Since late January, more than 100 tech staff at OPM have lost access to the cloud where key applications are stored, according to two people familiar with the matter. Only two people still have access - one career staffer and Greg Hogan, a political appointee who worked at an AI startup and is now OPM's chief information officer, the sources added. Hogan did not respond to a request for comment.

Elon Musk's DOGE is under fire again for spying on federal workers to detect anti-Trump language: Key points

Tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is facing another huge scrutiny. The DOGE is reportedly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to spy on the communications of federal workers to find people critical of the president and his agenda, according to a Reuters report. -A Reuters report, citing two sources, claimed Elon Musk, who wants AI to replace federal workers, is now using it to spy on them. The officials within the Trump administration told federal employees that DOGE "technologists" are using AI to monitor "anti-Trump or anti-Musk language" at the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). -The EPA denied as "categorically false" that DOGE staff are using AI to spy on communications sent by federal workers to detect anti-Donald Trump or anti-Elon Musk language. -"We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language," a third source familiar with the EPA told Reuters. A manager reportedly said: "Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do." -A Newsweek report cited a spokesperson for the EPA told the publication: "EPA is not monitoring or transcribing phone calls, meetings, or calendar entries. Reuters reporting of this issue regarding EPA is categorically false." ALSO READ: 'Will continue to deport these monsters': Trump celebrates Supreme court ruling on deporting drug cartel members -The espionage claim has raised concerns as thousands of federal government employees have have sacked in the past few weeks on the recommendation of DOGE in its cost-cutting bid. DOGE is an advisory body set up Donald Trump and is led by his tech billionaire ally Elon Musk to streamline federal government operations and slash costs. -The Reuters report said the DOGE team is using the Signal app to communicate, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages on Signal can be set to disappear after a period of time. -DOGE team heavily deployed X's Grok AI chatbot as part of their work slashing the federal government, but it is not exactly known how Grok was being used, the report said. -"The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests or to go after political targets," the Reuters report said. ALSO READ: 'I will do anything sir': Trump brags world leaders 'kissing my a**' to negotiate tariffs . Watch video -The EPA is among the agencies under the heaviest scrutiny from Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, and 600 of its employees have been placed on leave since January. Trump administration officials have announced plans to slash up to 65 percent of the EPA's budget, which could lead to even more layoffs. -Critics have accused DOGE of using staffing cuts to purge the government of non-partisan employees and replace them with loyalists who will turn a blind eye to corruption, and the agency has come under fire from both Democrats and Republicans for its lack of transparency. -According to the report, DOGE employees are using this veil of secrecy to commit ethical violations and circumnavigate data security laws. As a special government employee, Musk is prohibited from using his position to benefit himself or his companies, and he has faced accusations that by embedding his AI bot in government systems he can harvest data that can be used to give his companies a commercial advantage.

Elon Musk's Secretive DOGE Team Using AI And Disappearing Messages To Monitor Federal Workers For Anti-Trump Sentiment, Bypassing Records Laws And Locking Out Agencies: Report

Enter your email to get Benzinga's ultimate morning update: The PreMarket Activity Newsletter A special government unit reportedly linked to Elon Musk and functioning under the Trump administration has been using artificial intelligence tools to scan federal employee communications. What Happened: According to a new exclusive report from Reuters, DOGE has installed AI systems -- including Musk's own Grok chatbot -- across at least one federal agency to spot internal messages seen as unfavorable toward Trump or his policies. The team is part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), triggering warnings from legal experts and watchdogs over its secretive practices and possible abuse of surveillance tools. At the Environmental Protection Agency, managers were reportedly informed by political appointees that monitoring was ongoing, including checks on communication platforms like Microsoft Teams. In tandem, DOGE workers have been using the Signal messaging app, which enables conversations to vanish automatically, the report added. This has raised red flags over potential violations of federal archiving rules. Internally, the team is said to be sidestepping conventional document protocols by working together through shared Google Docs in real-time. The White House did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment. See Also: Elon Musk's Net Worth Dives Below $300 Billion For The First Time Since November Amid Tesla Attacks And Tariff Wo Why It Matters: Legal experts warn that DOGE's activities could be choking lawful speech and evading public oversight. One federal judge recently ordered the team to release records after worries over their management of sensitive information and sidestepping of public records laws. DOGE's control over digital infrastructure has increased, especially within main agencies like the Office of Personnel Management, where access to crucial databases has been radically restricted. As Musk's DOGE initiative solidifies its control across federal systems, concerns over its opaque operations and possible political targeting continue to increase. With partial public disclosure and continuing legal challenges, the program's unprecedented implementation of AI in government oversight is being scrutinized for its ethical and constitutional ramifications. Read Next: Mark Cuban Warns Of A Crisis 'Far Worse' Than 2008 If Trump's Tariff Turmoil And Elon Musk's DOGE Moves Continue Image via Shutterstock Got Questions? AskHow might AI surveillance tools reshape tech investments?Which government contractors could benefit from DOGE's actions?Are there privacy-focused tech firms to watch now?Which stock prices might react to ongoing legal scrutiny?Could compliance software companies see growth from federal changes?What impact will political surveillance have on public tech perception?How do federal contracts get affected by DOGE's practices?Which communication platforms could gain traction from privacy concerns?Is there potential in investing in legal tech due to increased scrutiny?Could tech giants face backlash impacting their stock performance?Powered ByMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Exclusive-Musk's DOGE using AI to snoop on U.S. federal workers, sources say

(Reuters) - Trump administration officials have told some U.S. government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency's communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. While much of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost cutting. The DOGE team is also using the Signal app to communicate, according to one other person with direct knowledge of the matter, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages can be set to disappear after a period of time. And they have "heavily" deployed Musk's Grok AI chatbot - an aspiring ChatGPT rival - as part of their work slashing the federal government, said that person. Reuters could not establish exactly how Grok was being used. The White House, DOGE and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests, or to go after political targets. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said DOGE's use of privacy-focused Signal adds to growing concerns over data security practices after top Trump administration officials came under fire last month for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high-level planning for military operations in Yemen. "If they're using Signal and not backing up every message to federal files, then they are acting unlawfully," she said. Reuters' interviews with nearly 20 people with knowledge of DOGE's operations - and an examination of hundreds of pages of court documents from lawsuits challenging DOGE's access to data - highlight its unorthodox usage of AI and other technology in federal government operations. At the Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, some EPA managers were told by Trump appointees that Musk's team is rolling out AI to monitor workers, including looking for language in communications considered hostile to Trump or Musk, the two people said. The EPA, which enforces laws such as the Clean Air Act and works to protect the environment, has come under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration. Since January, it has put nearly 600 employees on leave and said it will eliminate 65% of its budget, which could require further staffing reductions. Trump-appointed officials who had taken up EPA posts told managers that DOGE was using AI to monitor communication apps and software, including Microsoft Teams, which is widely used for virtual calls and chats, said the two sources familiar with these comments. "We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language," a third source familiar with the EPA said. Reuters could not independently confirm if the AI was being implemented. The Trump officials said DOGE would be looking for people whose work did not align with the administration's mission, the first two sources said. "Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do," a manager said, according to one of the sources. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment. Musk has depicted DOGE as a tech-driven effort to make the U.S. federal government more efficient by targeting waste, fraud and abuse. He has said the goal was to trim $1 trillion in spending, or 15% of the U.S. annual budget. Few dispute the U.S. government and its aging computer systems are due for modernization. But Democrats say Musk and Trump are purging the government of non-partisan public servants and installing loyalists who would turn a blind eye to corruption. Many Republicans and independents are also critical of DOGE's actions. Clark, the ethics specialist, said the prospective surveillance was worrisome. It "sounds like an abuse of government power to suppress or deter speech that the president of the United States doesn't like," she said. Last year, before Trump was elected, Musk suggested AI could be used to replace government workers, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments. "The concept was that through taking the government data that they could build the most dynamic AI system ever," the person said, adding that AI could then "do the work." The complex endeavor would entail teaching AI systems to automate some of the work currently done by federal employees. As a special government employee, Musk is prohibited under ethics laws from involving himself in government activities that would benefit him or his companies. TRANSPARENCY QUESTIONS In addition to the use of Signal, some DOGE staffers are bypassing other vetting processes and chains of custody for official government documents by working simultaneously out of Google Docs instead of circulating single copies of drafts, a source briefed by a government official said. "There's multiple people in one Google Doc editing things simultaneously," the source said, referring to the online word processing software. That was partly how DOGE was working so quickly, the source added. The Trump administration has argued that DOGE, as an arm of the Executive Office of the President, is not subject to laws that allow the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. Citing DOGE's "unusual secrecy," including its use of Signal, a federal judge on March 10 ordered the group to start handing records to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog that had sued to request DOGE documents under federal freedom of information laws. As of Monday, the watchdog said, no records had been turned over. As Musk embeds his young DOGE team of engineers and aides deep inside the government's digital infrastructure, accusations that DOGE is deliberately operating in secrecy have emerged in court cases challenging the authority of Musk, the world's richest man, to remake the federal government. DOGE employees have dramatically tightened administrative controls at some agencies, keeping staffers in the dark while making significant operational changes, according to interviews and court filings. When Musk's team took control of the government's human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, in late January, they shut OPM employees out of a database containing sensitive personal information of tens of millions of current and former federal workers, according to court filings and Reuters' previous reporting. OPM is at the heart of the administration's vision to shrink the government, issuing government-wide directives that are seen as blueprints for downsizing the civil service. Since late January, more than 100 tech staff at OPM have lost access to the cloud where key applications are stored, according to two people familiar with the matter. Only two people still have access -- one career staffer and Greg Hogan, a political appointee who worked at an AI startup and is now OPM's chief information officer, the sources added. Hogan did not respond to a request for comment. (Ulmer and Dastin reported from San Francisco; Taylor and Alper reported from Washington. Additional reporting by Joseph Tanfani, Valerie Volcovici and Humeyra Pamuk. Editing by Jason Szep)

Musk's DOGE using AI to snoop on U.S. federal workers, sources say

(Reuters) -Trump administration officials have told some U.S. government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency's communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. While much of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost cutting. The DOGE team is also using the Signal app to communicate, according to one other person with direct knowledge of the matter, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages can be set to disappear after a period of time. And they have "heavily" deployed Musk's Grok AI chatbot - an aspiring ChatGPT rival - as part of their work slashing the federal government, said that person. Reuters could not establish exactly how Grok was being used. The White House, DOGE and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency and that billionaire Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests, or to go after political targets. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said DOGE's use of privacy-focused Signal adds to growing concerns over data security practices after top Trump administration officials came under fire last month for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high-level planning for military operations in Yemen. "If they're using Signal and not backing up every message to federal files, then they are acting unlawfully," she said. Reuters' interviews with nearly 20 people with knowledge of DOGE's operations - and an examination of hundreds of pages of court documents from lawsuits challenging DOGE's access to data - highlight its unorthodox usage of AI and other technology in federal government operations. At the Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, some EPA managers were told by Trump appointees that Musk's team is rolling out AI to monitor workers, including looking for language in communications considered hostile to Trump or Musk, the two people said. The EPA, which enforces laws such as the Clean Air Act and works to protect the environment, has come under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration. Since January, it has put nearly 600 employees on leave and said it will eliminate 65% of its budget, which could require further staffing reductions. Trump-appointed officials who had taken up EPA posts told managers that DOGE was using AI to monitor communication apps and software, including Microsoft Teams, which is widely used for virtual calls and chats, said the two sources familiar with these comments. "We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language," a third source familiar with the EPA said. Reuters could not independently confirm if the AI was being implemented. The Trump officials said DOGE would be looking for people whose work did not align with the administration's mission, the first two sources said. "Be careful what you say, what you type and what you do," a manager said, according to one of the sources. After publication of this story, the EPA acknowledged in a statement that it was "looking at AI to better optimize agency functions and administrative efficiencies" but said it was not using AI "as it makes personnel decisions in concert with DOGE." It did not directly address whether it was using AI to surveil workers. Musk has depicted DOGE as a tech-driven effort to make the U.S. federal government more efficient by targeting waste, fraud and abuse. He has said the goal was to trim $1 trillion in spending, or 15% of the U.S. annual budget. Few dispute the U.S. government and its aging computer systems are due for modernization. But Democrats say Musk and Trump are purging the government of non-partisan public servants and installing loyalists who would turn a blind eye to corruption. Many Republicans and independents are also critical of DOGE's actions. Clark, the ethics specialist, said the prospective surveillance was worrisome. It "sounds like an abuse of government power to suppress or deter speech that the president of the United States doesn't like," she said. Last year, before Trump was elected, Musk suggested AI could be used to replace government workers, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments. "The concept was that through taking the government data that they could build the most dynamic AI system ever," the person said, adding that AI could then "do the work." The complex endeavor would entail teaching AI systems to automate some of the work currently done by federal employees. As a special government employee, Musk is prohibited under ethics laws from involving himself in government activities that would benefit him or his companies. TRANSPARENCY QUESTIONS In addition to the use of Signal, some DOGE staffers are bypassing other vetting processes and chains of custody for official government documents by working simultaneously out of Google Docs instead of circulating single copies of drafts, a source briefed by a government official said. "There's multiple people in one Google Doc editing things simultaneously," the source said, referring to the online word processing software. That was partly how DOGE was working so quickly, the source added. The Trump administration has argued that DOGE, as an arm of the Executive Office of the President, is not subject to laws that allow the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. Citing DOGE's "unusual secrecy," including its use of Signal, a federal judge on March 10 ordered the group to start handing records to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog that had sued to request DOGE documents under federal freedom of information laws. As of Monday, the watchdog said, no records had been turned over. As Musk embeds his young DOGE team of engineers and aides deep inside the government's digital infrastructure, accusations that DOGE is deliberately operating in secrecy have emerged in court cases challenging the authority of Musk, the world's richest man, to remake the federal government. DOGE employees have dramatically tightened administrative controls at some agencies, keeping staffers in the dark while making significant operational changes, according to interviews and court filings. When Musk's team took control of the government's human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, in late January, they shut OPM employees out of a database containing sensitive personal information of tens of millions of current and former federal workers, according to court filings and Reuters' previous reporting. OPM is at the heart of the administration's vision to shrink the government, issuing government-wide directives that are seen as blueprints for downsizing the civil service. Since late January, more than 100 tech staff at OPM have lost access to the cloud where key applications are stored, according to two people familiar with the matter. Only two people still have access -- one career staffer and Greg Hogan, a political appointee who worked at an AI startup and is now OPM's chief information officer, the sources added. Hogan did not respond to a request for comment. (Ulmer and Dastin reported from San Francisco; Taylor and Alper reported from Washington. Additional reporting by Joseph Tanfani, Valerie Volcovici and Humeyra Pamuk. Editing by Jason Szep) By Alexandra Ulmer, Marisa Taylor, Jeffrey Dastin and Alexandra Alper