Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) technology team is reportedly using AI to monitor government employees’ messages for hostility toward President Trump, sources have revealed.

Some federal workers have already suffered from mass layoffs and sharp budget cuts, but much of the activity of the DOGE remains shrouded in secrecy.

DOGE team could be violating federal rules

According to Reuters, the Trump administration officials have told some US government employees that DOGE is using AI to spy on at least one federal agency’s communication for hostility to Trump and his agenda.

The DOGE team is potentially violating federal record-keeping rules, as they are using the Signal messaging app to communicate. The violation comes as messages on the app can be set to disappear after a period of time.

The ‘Grok AI’ chatbot, owned by Musk and a rival to ChatGPT, has been deployed heavily as part of the DOGE team’s work of slashing the federal government.

However, there is no exact knowledge of how Grok AI is being used. DOGE, Musk, and the White House have not commented on any reports regarding this issue.

The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts and government ethicists that DOGE is operating with limited transparency, adding that Musk or the Trump administration could use information gathered with AI to further their own interests, or to go after political targets.

In addition to the use of Signal, some DOGE staffers are bypassing other vetting processes and chains of custody for official government documents by working simultaneously out of Google Docs instead of circulating single copies of drafts, reports say.

The Trump administration has argued that DOGE, as an arm of the Executive Office of the President, is not subject to laws that allow the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies.

DOGE remains shrouded in secrecy

Citing DOGE’s unusual secrecy, including its use of Signal. A federal judge on March 10 ordered the group to start handing records to Citizen for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog that had sued to request DOGE documents under federal freedom of information laws.

Washington University in St Louis’ government ethics expert, Kathleen Clark, said DOGE’s use of privacy focused Signal adds to growing concerns over data security practices after top Trump administration officials came under fire last month for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high level planning for military operations in Yemen.

“If they are using Signal and not backing up every message to federal files, then they are acting unlawfully.”

Clark.

According to Reuters, which interviewed nearly 20 people with knowledge of DOGE’s operations, together with an examination of hundreds of pages of court documents from lawsuits challenging DOGE’s access to data, highlights its unorthodox usage of AI and other technology in federal government operations.

For instance, some managers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were informed by Trump appointees that Musk’s team is rolling out AI to monitor workers, including looking for language in communications considered hostile to Trump or Musk, the two people said.

The Trump appointees added that AI was being used to monitor communication apps and software like Microsoft Teams. EPA staff use these apps for virtual calls and chat.

“We have been told they are looking for anti-Trump or anti-Musk language,” said a third source.

EPA enforces laws such as the Clean Air Act and works to protect the environment, and has come under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration. Since January, it has put nearly 600 employees on leave and said it will eliminate 65% of its budget, which could require further staffing reductions.

Musk has, however, portrayed DOGE as a tech-driven effort to make the US federal government more efficient by targeting waste, fraud, and abuse.

He added that the aim was to trim $1 trillion in spending, or 15% of the US annual budget, as he discovered there were 20 million dead workers listed as alive.

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