President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 20 to give more latitude to federal agency heads seeking access to government data systems.
The order, titled Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos, is written to promote “inter-agency data sharing” to root out inefficiencies.
The Department of Health and Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of the Treasury and other federal agencies will be required to rescind or modify guidance that restricts access to unclassified records, data, software systems and information technology systems.
It is the latest red flag for privacy experts concerned over the Trump administration’s seeming disregard for privacy norms and personal data.
“This is the loudest signal yet to federal agencies that they’re expected to ignore privacy and security safeguards and give the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] full control over the data they hold,” said John Davisson, director of litigation and senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Nominally limiting DOGE access to what is ‘consistent with law’ is meaningless when the administration is already systematically violating federal privacy laws.”
The White House and Republicans in Congress consistently bring attention to improper payments and fraud in federal health programs and throughout the federal government. They view Elon Musk—the architect of the DOGE but not the advisory group’s leader, the administration claims in court—as a crucial element to accomplish these goals.
Musk and the DOGE have previously accessed sensitive systems at the Treasury and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Media reports indicate they have been interested in contracting data at the CMS Acquisition Lifecycle Management system, as well as data at the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System (HIGLAS), which contains personally identifiable information on health program beneficiaries.
The Office of the Chief Information Officer in the HHS was asked to submit information regarding three DOGE members: Luke Farritor, Marko Elez and Edward Coristine, independent journalist Marisa Kabas first reported.
The request asked for access agreements for grants and contract databases, Medicare/Medicaid databases, HIGLAS and other databases containing personal information. It also requested documents or records showing approval to share information or documents “from HHS systems outside of HHS.”
An HHS spokesperson declined to comment to Fierce Healthcare, saying the agency does not disclose information regarding ongoing litigation.
Federal judges so far are ruling against the administration’s attempts to access these systems, most recently in the case of Social Security records. Granting Musk broad access could help crack down on duplicative payments and give him a better sense of grant and contract outgoings, but one judge said the DOGE’s actions equal an unlawful “fishing expedition” for private information.
States won an extended block against DOGE members’ access of Treasury systems. They argued they receive billions of dollars in congressionally appropriated funds for Medicaid programs, veterans’ health services, SNAP benefits, mental health block grants and more. The court-imposed block expires March 24.
Agencies must submit a list of regulations to modify or delete to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the department spearheading many of the White House’s plans.
“Agency Heads shall take all necessary steps, to the maximum extent consistent with law, to ensure the Federal Government has unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive federal funding, including, as appropriate, data generated by those programs but maintained in third-party databases,” the memo reads.
It also says the Department of Labor secretary must receive total access to unemployment data and payment records.
“The Trump administration sought such a comprehensive data environment during its first term, endeavoring to use it for immigration enforcement, but this time cites fraud, waste and abuse—leaving us to wonder why they actually want to amass this information,” said Elizabeth Laird, director of equity in civic technology for the Center for Democracy & Technology.
The data system order came amid a slew of other new executive actions building upon Trump's goal of reorganizing the federal government.
A March 20 presidential memo states the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) can make “final suitability determinations” on worker employment status for federal agencies.
The government’s firing of probationary employees has hit a snag in some lawsuits as judges say the OPM does not have the authority to fire another agency’s employees. The OPM retroactively edited a Jan. 20 memo to clarify other agencies have the final say in firing these workers.
But the new memo instructs agencies to factor in the OPM heavily. It states an agency head must comply with the OPM’s “specific instructions as to separation or other corrective action with regard to an employee, including cancellation of a personnel action” within five workdays.
Also on March 20, an executive order requires agencies to submit plans to the General Services Administration (GSA) within 60 days to centralize procurement efforts. This comes nearly one month after an executive order telling DOGE team leads within agencies to undergo a grants and contracts cost-cutting initiative.
The GSA will take control of federal IT contracting within 30 days and look for “contract duplication, redundancy and other inefficiencies” on indefinite delivery contract vehicles for IT across all agencies. A memo from the OMB will be forthcoming.
Executive orders do not override laws and statutes but can be a sign of new policy positions, guidance and future rulemaking.