A Manhattan Federal Court judge extended a temporary restraining order against the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing US Treasury Department data while she considers a longer-term injunction. The judge acknowledged concerns raised by attorneys general from New York and other states regarding this access as a potential threat to privacy.
A Manhattan Federal Court judge on Friday extended the temporary restraining order that bars staffers from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ) from accessing US Treasury Department data. Attorneys general from New York and other blue states have slammed this as an unlawful threat to privacy. The judge, Jeannette A. Vargas, is considering whether to impose a longer-term injunction.
After hearing arguments from lawyers representing both New York and allied states, and the Department of Justice, Judge Vargas stated, “I do find good cause to extend the TRO as modified.” She indicated that she would issue her decision soon but not on Friday, stating, “to give the court time to consider” the presented issues. While the proceeding largely maintained the status quo, it shed light on the limited information available regarding DOGE’s access to data and its potential dissemination. During the hearing, Judge Vargas questioned Jeffrey Oestericher, the Justice Department attorney representing Trump, about whether any DOGE-accessed information had been shared outside the Treasury Department. Oestericher responded, “The short answer on that is we don’t presently know.” He further explained that a forensic analysis was underway, revealing that emails had been sent outside the Treasury Department, but the content of these emails remained unknown. Judge Vargas inquired about the privacy implications of this situation, and Oestericher asserted, “The short answer is no,” stating that mitigation efforts were in place to prevent such harm during the period DOGE team members had access to the information. However, he admitted at another point, “We candidly admit that there was some measure of increased risk, but we took all appropriate mitigation measures to mitigate that risk as much as possible.” This decision followed six days after New York and allied litigants were granted a temporary restraining order, effectively barring the Treasury Department from granting DOGE hires and special government employees access to sensitive data and computer systems. Donald Trump established DOGE, an agency aiming to combat fraud and government waste, despite a lack of substantial evidence suggesting widespread fraud. In issuing the initial temporary restraining order on February 8, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer stated that the states suing Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would “face irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief.” Engelmayer noted that the Treasury’s new policy, enacted at Trump’s behest, allegedly granted access to the payment systems of the Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS) to political appointees and ‘special government employees.’ He concluded that this represented a “risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking.”Engelmayer further stated in his written decision that the states suing over the Treasury’s policy change “have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims, with the States’ statutory claims presenting as particularly strong.” The complaint against Trump and Bessent repeatedly cited WIRED’s reporting, which revealed how a 25-year-old engineer named Marko Elez, with ties to Musk, had read and write access to two Treasury Department systems responsible for virtually all federal government payments. Tom Krause, a member of the DOGE team and CEO of Cloud Software Group, was also granted access to these capabilities. Two sources told WIRED that Elez’s privileges allowed him not only to read but also to write code for two of the most sensitive US government computer systems, including the Payment Automation Manager and Secure Payment System at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS). These systems, housed on a secure mainframe, control government payments that constitute over 20 percent of the US economy, WIRED previously reported. In court papers filed February 13, New York and allies allege that Trump and his Treasury Department do not contest that states have a “clear and reasonable interest in protecting their confidential bank account numbers and other sensitive financial information, including details and amounts of payments, from unauthorized disclosure.” However, they claim that this information was disclosed to two DOGE members, violating “numerous laws and regulations.” New York and other states argued in the same filing that BFS’s development of “mitigation strategies” to reduce risk served as evidence of the “substantial and imminent” danger. They assert that at least once, Elez was “mistakenly provided with ‘read/write permissions instead of read-only.’” The states further claim that even with the more restricted “read-only” access, Elez still possessed “the ability to view and query information and data”; effectively granting him access to the states’ sensitive financial information
DOGE Department Of Government Efficiency Treasury Department Data Access Privacy Injunction Donald Trump Elon Musk Marko Elez Tom Krause Bureau Of Fiscal Services Federal Government Lawsuit
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