Elon Musk has said his so-called Department of Government Efficiency would offer “maximum transparency.”
“There should be no need for FOIA requests,” wrote Musk, referring to the Freedom of Information Act, federal law that allows members of the public to seek federal records. “All government data should be default public for maximum transparency.”
But Donald Trump’s administration claims that the agency behind government-wide cuts and firings is not subject to public records searches.
Lawyers for the Department of Justice wrote in a court filing on Thursday night that DOGE “is not subject to FOIA.”
That point-blank claim was buried in the government’s response to a lawsuit from a watchdog group demanding access to records from the U.S. DOGE Service, which is working “in the shadows” with “a cadre of largely unidentified actors, whose status as government employees is unclear, controlling major government functions with no oversight,” according to the complaint.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is seeking communications between staff with the Office of Management and Budget and DOGE, as well as organizational charts and financial disclosures, among other records. CREW also asked for a court order that would require DOGE to preserve records and to take action if they are lost or destroyed. CREW is asking for those records to be released no later than March 15.
Justice Department lawyers claim that the importance of those disclosures is “wholly speculative and does not come close to meeting the demanding standard” for a court order.
DOGE — formerly the U.S. Digital Service, which operated as a government-wide IT agency before Trump renamed it by executive order — is insulated from public records requests until at least 2034, according to the White House.
The office “was reorganized under the Executive Office of the President” and was now “subject to Presidential Records,” DOGE official Katie Miller said earlier this month.
The Presidential Records Act shields most documents and communication involving the president, advisers and staff from the public for until five years after leaving office.
Musk, meanwhile, continues to argue that the agency he commands (and which the White House denies he controls) should be an open book.
“All aspects of the government must be fully transparent and accountable to the people,” he wrote earlier this month. “No exceptions, including, if not especially, the Federal Reserve.”
At a White House event, he said he endeavors his actions to be “maximally transparent.”
“I don’t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization,” he added.
CREW argues that DOGE’s records can be obtained through the Federal Records Act.
“The law is clear about how government records should be preserved so that, when the public requests them, they are easily and readily accessible. If the administration valued transparency, following records laws would be a priority,” CREW president Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.
“Following records retention and release laws is especially important for a non-congressionally created agency wielding unprecedented power over funding that affects the lives of the American people every day, and touches our international efforts as well,” Bookbinder said.
“Preserving and releasing records is not an option, but a necessity, and the Trump administration should welcome compliance with these laws to shine a light on work they have touted and provide the ‘maximum transparency’ that was promised.”
