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@ Miguel Afonso Caetano
2025-02-13 11:45:50
"Parts of the US bureaucracy are no doubt bloated and inefficient, and need modernisation. Most American voters support this idea. Reforming creaking bureaucracies often requires radical efforts. Yet it also needs detailed planning, transparency and oversight. All these are missing from what the Trump administration is now doing.
The Department of Government Efficiency that Musk heads is not a government agency established by Congress but an opaque body created by executive order. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has argued it has no authority to make spending decisions or shut down programmes — let alone entire agencies.
In their quest to find savings and root out “woke” policies, Musk’s team of 20-something coders have nonetheless managed to infiltrate agencies including the US Treasury and the state and health departments; the $40bn USAID agency has in effect closed down. Tens of thousands of civil servants have been fired or suspended. Doge operatives have accessed troves of data, from intelligence records to employees’ bank details and health records, raising risks for privacy and national security. Handing such power to a corporate boss with an interest in shaping policies and regulation creates clear conflicts."
https://www.ft.com/content/f7665ee1-dcda-4c35-9209-735094054482
#USA #DOGE #Musk #Bureaucracy #Privacy #DataProtection