The labor watchdog is investigating the claims afterNPR reported them

DOGE Reached to Independent Government Agencies, Nonpartisan Organizations, and Following Trump’s Proposal to Fire the CPB Librarian

The Department of Government Efficiency is trying to expand beyond executive branch agencies and into legislative watchdog that can find waste, fraud and abuse in the government.

The GAO is a legislative branch entity that works to audits government spending and suggest ways to make it more efficient, but it rejected the request because it wasn’t subject to presidential orders.

“DOGE’s attempted intrusion into an independent, nonpartisan branch of government is a direct assault on our nation’s sacred separation of powers,” said the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “DOGE cannot and must not have any access to GAO. GAO is a critical legislative branch agency according to Oversight Democrats and they are keeping an eye on the situation.

The GAO leadership sent a letter to the acting administrator of the DOGE and told members of Congress in an announcement to employees that was shared with NPR by an employee not authorized to speak publicly.

The GAO regularly releases reports that highlight ways to improve government efficiency, like a May 13 review of federal programs with fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative actions it says could save over $100 billion in spending. But there’s been little overlap between GAO’s work and DOGE’s actions so far.

Do you have information about DOGE outreach to independent agencies and nongovernmental organizations? Reach out to the authors through encrypted communications on Signal. Stephen Fowler can be found at stphnfwlr.25. Shannon Bond is at shannonbond.01. Please do not work with a nonwork device.

DOGE tried to assign a team to review operations at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in April, a day after Trump attempted to fire three board members, according to filings in a lawsuit brought by CPB challenging Trump’s move.

In an Apr. 15 call with Vera Institute leadership, a DOGE representative said DOGE’s outreach was about interrogating “every institute or agency that has Congressional monies appropriated to it,” according to notes Vera Institute staff shared with NPR.

He claimed his request to join Vera was “void” after he was told the grants had been terminated by the Department of Justice.

DOGE’s efforts to embed at GAO also heighten growing tensions between Congress and the executive branch. The Librarian of Congress was fired last week by President Donald Trump, which raised concerns among members of Congress.

Have information or evidence to share about DOGE’s access to data inside the federal government? You can get in touch with the authors through secret communications on the Signal website. Stephen Fowler is available on Signal at stphnfwlr.25. There is someone at jennamclaughlin.54. A nonwork device is required.

Just one day after NPR reported on the whistleblower disclosure and allegations, DOGE also detailed two staffers to the agency to work “part-time for several months.”

But when NPR’s story was first published, Bearese denied that the agency granted DOGE access to its systems and said DOGE had not requested access to the agency’s systems. “After Berulis raised concerns, the agency conducted an investigation which found no breeches of agency systems,” Bearese said.

“These revelations from the whistleblower report are highly concerning for a number of reasons,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter to acting NLRB general counsel William Cowen. “If true, these revelations describe a reckless approach to the handling of sensitive personal information of workers, which could leave these workers exposed to retaliation for engaging in legally protected union activity.”

The OIG is looking into the matter after the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee wrote to the acting Inspector General at the Department of Labor and the Inspector General of the National Labor Relations Board to express their concern about the activities of the DOGE.

The House Oversight Committee Democrats had concerns with the whistle blowers and launched an investigation of the OIG, according to a statement.

The investigation was first reported by FedScoop, which filed records requests for information related to allegations made by IT staffer Daniel Berulis in an official whistleblower disclosure last month.

NPR’s exclusive reporting about sensitive data leaving the agency prompted the inspector general to investigate the Department of Government Efficiency’s interaction with the NLRB.