DOGE's Social Security Takeover; Cuts Disrupt Basic Agency Functions; New DOGE-Tracking Resource

Stories Mentioned in Today’s Roundup

1. The Bureaucrat and the Billionaire: Inside DOGE’s Chaotic Takeover of Social Security

   New York Times: A team of NYT reporters provide a lengthy, thorough, and unsettling look behind the curtain at DOGE’s tumultuous tenure at the Social Security Administration based on interviews with over 70 sources. The Times documents how SSA staff tried to correct bogus claims about massive fraud propagated by DOGE and Elon Musk—and were promptly told to sit down and shut up. Distrustful of career staff, DOGE installed a 21-year-old former Palantir intern and, steamrolling internal objections, demanded he be granted access to vast troves of sensitive personal data. And an elementary misunderstanding of internal reports on telephone fraud launched a series of misguided countermeasures that played havoc with the agency’s ability to serve constituents.
   

2. ‘Set up for failure’: Trump’s cuts bring climate and energy agencies to a standstill, workers say

   Politico: Officials at an array of federal agencies, including EPA and FEMA, say DOGE-mandated staff cuts and spending freezes have rendered them incapable of carrying out some of their most basic functions.
   

3. Top House Democrat asks Microsoft about DOGE code allegedly tied to NLRB data removal

   NPR: Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, has asked Microsoft to share information about a DOGE staffer's account on GitHub, which according to a whistleblower’s report was used to host “bespoke code” meant to exfiltrate sensitive data from the National Labor Relations Board’s systems.
   

4. Lawmakers grant Florida DOGE power to fine cities, counties

   Orlando Sentinel: Via a last-minute addition to a budget bill, Florida’s local version of DOGE has been granted the power to fine cities and counties up to $1,000 per day if they fail to grant the team access to their staff, databases, and other facilities.
   

5. 'Does not stick the landing': Judge gives Trump permission to keep DOGE documents beyond FOIA's reach by using Presidential Records Act

   Law & Crime: District Judge James Boasberg, in a memorandum opinion, rejected a request from the Project on Government Oversight to issue a preliminary injunction requiring DOGE to preserve records. Boasberg noted that DOGE is already required to retain records under the Presidential Records Act, and that the extraordinary remedy of a preliminary injunction could not be justified by speculative concerns they might be improperly destroyed.
   

6. Doge Track

   A new resource created by veteran civic techie Jacob Harris aims to compile key information about DOGE—what they’re doing, and who is doing it—under one roof.