cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/32327749

Whistleblower Disclosure.

Today, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Acting Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella requesting information and documents in Microsoft’s possession regarding reports that individuals associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attempted to remove sensitive information from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), raising serious concerns of technology-related misconduct.

“According to recent reporting by the National Public Radio (NPR) and whistleblower disclosures obtained by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, individuals associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have attempted to use high-level systems access to remove sensitive information—quite possibly including corporate secrets and details of union activities. The whistleblower has also explained how the responsible individuals have attempted to conceal their activities, obstruct oversight, and shield themselves from accountability, including by deleting system logs and opening back doors into the NLRB case management system to send massive amounts of data outside of the agency. Potentially in connection with these efforts, a DOGE engineer reportedly wrote bespoke code that appears designed to remove data from NLRB and saved that code to a repository on Microsoft’s GitHub platform. Given Microsoft’s ownership of GitHub, I request information and documents in Microsoft’s possession regarding this incident,” wrote Acting Ranking Member Lynch.

Recent reporting by NPR disclosed how a DOGE engineer saved code to a GitHub repository titled “NxGenBdoorExtract,” suggesting that the code could have created a backdoor used to extract files from the NLRB’s internal case management system.

The exfiltration of large swaths of sensitive information through backdoor channels raises significant concerns about the legality of DOGE’s actions and its threat to independent federal agencies, as well as Elon Musk’s personal conflicts of interest with this case.

“Notably, the now-former de facto leader of DOGE, Elon Musk, owns and operates companies that have frequently run afoul of NLRB rules. For example, NLRB has taken action against Mr. Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla for its attempts to discourage unionizing efforts, part of Mr. Musk’s ongoing anti-union actions. Mr. Musk’s social media company, X, also faced a complaint from NLRB after an employee was terminated for posting a tweet challenging the company’s return-to-office mandate. These cases raise concerns about Mr. Musk or anyone associated with DOGE having access to NLRB data, as any such access poses a serious conflict of interest,” concluded Rep. Lynch.