Really???
Wired is having a hissy fit!
Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college. Most have connections to Musk, and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chair of the analytics firm and government contractor Palantir who has long expressed opposition to democracy.
WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer.
Full article, HERE from Wired.com
So they effectively doxxed these young men as part of the hissy fit...
And the left is whining and crying about people having, GASP, access to medical histories, personally identifiable information, workplace evaluations, and other private data!
As if OPM data hasn't already been compromised by China, unknown number of hackers, etc. I KNOW my data has been compromised at least twice, because I've gotten formal letters from OPM about it...sigh
But, but, THIS is different, it's not the left pawing through the data for who knows what and sending it to who knows who for what purposes.
When you add this to the USAid scramble, the 'issues' with access to the Treasury database of who got what and who approved what, this just means the dominoes are falling and when the results get released, there will be names named, and I'm willing to be there will be court cases in the future.
And IMHO, this is LONG overdue. How many trillions of dollars has gone to the third world to be scraped off by NGOs, warlords, and governments in power that did NOTHING for their citizens?
How many years has 'aid' in the form of $$$ and food gone into Africa, Central America, and other locations with no measurable improvement?
If you've been in the third world, and walked through a bazaar or Souk, you've seen USAid wheat and other food products STILL IN THE ORIGINAL BOXES for sale to the highest bidder...
And did anybody else see Chuck U Schumer's presser about the price of beer and guac? Did you notice how he was smiling??? Corona is cheep beer in Mexico, and California has bigger/better avocados, but the Mexican ones are cheaper, just like tomatoes, and other produce... Or they were...
If the last couple of weeks are any indicator, what is going to come out in the next four years should be really interesting!
I need more popcorn!!!
I remember having a drone at the VA tell me that they couldn’t find one of my medical records. My smart ass told them to ask the Chinese consulate in DC. I was positive they had a complete copy of ALL my records!
Seems to me there are a number of things going on at the same time.
One is looking for corruption and partisanship within our own bureaucracies.
Another is looking for support of external entities that misuse that support.
A third, it seems to me, is looking at modernizing computer systems (hardware and software) and related processes which are beyond obsolescent. To do that you don't need to look at any particular individual's health records, for instance, but you do need to know what's stored, in what format, etc. In other words, access to the data set as a whole.
Just like any contractor hired to help maintain or modernize the system.
Side comment - I do kind of feel for the people in the government in charge of things like SCIFs. There are some pretty severe penalties on the books for knowingly allowing improper access to classified systems and material. While there are (or should be) escort policies in place, that's a far cry from full access. So the people being presented demands by DOGE for access can legitimately find themselves between a rock and hard place, depending on the clearance of the DOGE folks and what they're asking for.