Musk's Team to Access U.S. Government Financial Data in West Virginia

According to Odaily, Elon Musk is set to dispatch a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team to Parkersburg, West Virginia, next week. The team will gain read-only access to the U.S. government's central accounting system, offering a new perspective on some of the government's most sensitive financial data. Earlier this week, a federal judge restricted the DOGE team's access to the Treasury's payment systems following a lawsuit by a union and a retirees' group concerned about privacy issues. Musk's pursuit of direct access to federal data systems is part of his new role as head of DOGE. The team is scheduled to visit the Bureau of Fiscal Service building in Parkersburg from Tuesday to Thursday. This facility houses the Central Accounting Reporting System (CARS), which manages accounting and reporting access for all federal agencies. CARS data is crucial for constructing the national balance sheet and handling banking information from various agencies and the Federal Reserve. However, it differs from the payment systems previously accessed by the DOGE team. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday, allowing only two DOGE employees, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, read-only access to the payment systems. Elez was dismissed the same day for making racist remarks, but Musk and Vice President JD Vance have advocated for his reinstatement. The Parkersburg facility also includes the agency formerly known as the Bureau of the Public Debt, which accounts for the $28.9 trillion national debt daily and provides some back-office functions for other federal agencies. All employees undergo background, credit, and security checks, including fingerprinting, every three to five years. On Saturday, Musk announced that he had reached an agreement with Treasury officials on a series of issues related to auditing, recording, and reconciling federal payments with the existing 'prohibited payments' entity list. He described these actions as 'very obvious and necessary changes' to be implemented by existing career government employees. It remains unclear how many of Musk's requested measures have been enacted. The U.S. Treasury did not immediately confirm the agreement on Saturday.