Elon Musk's DOGE Employee Exposes U.S. Agencies' Sensitive Data
A 25-year-old employee at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Marko Elez, has been granted access to sensitive databases at multiple U.S. government agencies. This includes the Social Security Administration, Department of Labor, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security.
Elez's access was inadvertently exposed when he published a private API key. This key allowed entry to over four dozen large language models (LLMs) developed by xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company. The exposed key granted access to at least 52 different LLMs, including the most recent one created on July 9, 2025.
The exposed API key was first flagged by GitGuardian, a company specializing in detecting exposed secrets in code repositories. Elez did not respond to a request for comment, and the code repository containing the private key was removed after being notified.
Elez's history includes previous employment or recruitment by Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink. His tenure at DOGE was marked by controversial actions, including spewing antisemitic rants and invoking Adolf Hitler less than a week before the contract award. Prior to DOGE, Elez advocated for racism and eugenics on social media.
The Department of Defense is set to use Grok, a generative AI chatbot developed by xAI and integrated into Twitter/X, as part of a contract worth up to $200 million. Grok relies on the LLMs that were potentially compromised. The incident raises serious concerns about data security and the responsible use of AI technology.
