Marko Elez, a 25-year-old engineer who previously worked at two of Elon Musk’s companies, has direct access to US Treasury Department systems responsible for handling nearly all government payments, according to a report by WIRED.
Citing two sources, the report states that Elez’s privileges extend beyond just reading data—he can also write code on two of the US government’s most sensitive financial systems: the Payment Automation Manager and the Secure Payment System at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS).
These systems, hosted on a secure mainframe, process payments that account for more than a fifth of the US economy. While Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force reportedly has only “read-only” access, sources claim Elez—who has visited the BFS facility in Kansas City—holds administrator-level privileges. Such privileges typically allow a user to log into servers via secure shell access, browse the entire file system, modify user permissions, and alter or delete crucial files.
This level of access raises concerns about potential security risks, as it could enable someone to bypass safeguards and make irreversible changes to critical systems. One source quoted in the report emphasized the severity of the situation, stating, “You could do anything with these privileges,” and questioned why such access would be necessary for routine fraud detection or payment analysis.
A federal IT worker speaking to WIRED on Monday night acknowledged that, in theory, it was possible for a DOGE employee to receive elevated access to a government server.
According to public records reviewed by WIRED, Elez graduated from Rutgers University in 2021 and previously worked at SpaceX, focusing on vehicle telemetry, Starship software, and satellite systems. He later joined Musk’s social media company, X, contributing to search AI. His public GitHub repositories indicate extensive experience in software development, particularly in distributed systems, recommendation engines, and machine learning—though there is no record of prior government experience.
Neither Elez nor representatives from the White House or Musk responded to requests for comment. On Tuesday, following backlash over DOGE’s access to Treasury systems, the Treasury Department reassured the public that federal expenditures were proceeding as usual and reaffirmed its commitment to securing the nation’s payment infrastructure.
