The order could have implications for how the Department of Government Efficiency continues its work.
In an executive order issued on March 20, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to grant his designees complete access to unclassified government data.
The order, somewhat overshadowed by an order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, mandates that federal officials designated by the president or agency heads receive “full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, data, software systems, and information technology systems” for the purpose of rooting out “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“This includes authorizing and facilitating both the intra- and inter-agency sharing and consolidation of unclassified agency records,” it states.
Under the order, agency heads have 30 days to revise or remove internal policies that obstruct data-sharing within and across agencies. During that same period, agencies must also submit a report of those changes to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is implementing the White House’s efforts to shrink the federal bureaucracy.
The order further mandates a review of classified information policies to determine whether current classification practices exceed what is necessary to protect national security. Agency heads must submit recommendations to the OMB on whether to change or get rid of such policies.
In addition, the order instructs agency leaders to make sure they have “unfettered access” to comprehensive data from state programs that receive federal funding, including information housed in third-party databases. It also specifically says the secretary of labor and her designees must have total access to all unemployment data and related payment records.
The order does not mention the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by name, but the new policy could help the Elon Musk-led team expand its cost-cutting activities.
Since its creation, DOGE has tracked grants, contracts, and other expenditures of a range of federal agencies—including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the departments of education and the Treasury, and the Social Security Administration (SSA)—in an effort to identify inefficiencies and potential budget cuts.
DOGE’s approach has sparked legal battles centered on questions such as whether its power is legitimate and whether its handling of government data poses any privacy or security risk. Most recently, on March 20, a federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked the SSA from granting DOGE access to databases containing personally identifiable information.
The judge stated in a lengthy opinion that DOGE failed to justify a need for “unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems” that host people’s banking and medical records, among other sensitive information. As part of the temporary restraining order, DOGE affiliates must delete any personal data they have already obtained and remove any software they installed within SSA systems.
The SSA may still grant DOGE members access to “redacted or anonymized data and records,” the judge said, as long as they receive standard training for employees who generally work with Social Security data systems.
In February, a coalition of 20 Democrat-led states also won an extension of a temporary restraining order denying DOGE’s access to Treasury systems. That court-imposed block is set to expire on March 24, raising questions about whether DOGE will be able to resume its work at the Treasury under the president’s data-sharing order.