Trump says US doesn't have 'very good security' amid DOGE access concerns

President Trump on Friday lamented how the U.S. does not have "very good security" when discussing how Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gained access to sensitive federal information this week.

When asked why DOGE needs access to American's personal information like Social Security numbers, Trump said, "Well, it doesn't. But they get it very easily."

"I mean, we don't have very good security in our country," the president continued at a press conference Friday alongside Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

The statement comes as Musk and his DOGE team face scrutiny in courts and by some Democrats over how much access they have to Americans' personal data and sensitive federal payment systems as they seek to slash federal bureaucracy.

Reports surfaced last week that DOGE employees accessed critical payment systems and forced out a three-decade veteran of the Treasury Department.

The New York Times reported Thursday the Treasury Department's chief of staff was pushing to use access to the payment system in order to freeze payments for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The White House and Treasury Department maintained the administration is conducting a review of the Fiscal Service and that DOGE employees will only be able to observe, not change, payments being made through the agency.

Two DOGE staffers were given "read-only" access to highly sensitive payment systems at the Treasury Department, the agency maintained, but numerous reports suggested one of them had the ability to rewrite the payment system base code.

The Department of Justice agreed Wednesday to limit the number of employees affiliated with DOGE who have access to a sensitive federal payment system.

Under the order, two staffers were permitted to have access to the Fiscal Service but will not be able to edit or make changes to the system, which manages 90 percent of federal payments.

Musk and his DOGE allies pushed forward this week on an aggressive campaign to slash federal bureaucracy and spending. On his first day in office, Trump issued a federal government hiring freeze, and thousands of workers have been offered deferred resignation packages.