VA leaders working with DOGE but say veterans’ personal info is secure

Veterans Affairs officials confirmed Wednesday that they are working with officials from the Department of Government Efficiency on ways to reform agency operations, but insisted that veterans’ medical and benefits data is not being shared with any outside offices.

In a statement from a VA spokesperson, department leaders confirmed that the department has one employee from the controversial government efficiency office “who is specifically focused on identifying wasteful contracts, improving VA operations and strengthening management of the department’s IT projects.”

The news came amid rumors throughout the veterans community about DOGE — and its leader, billionaire Elon Musk — scanning VA systems and advising on potential program cuts even before new VA Secretary Doug Collins had taken his new office.

VA officials pushed back on those claims.

“The DOGE employee will be solely focused on improving VA performance and efficiency and will not have access to veterans’ or VA beneficiaries’ data,” according to the department’s statement. “VA looks forward to working with DOGE to improve services to veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.”

Collins was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday and sworn into office late Wednesday morning. In his introductory statement to VA workers, he did not specifically mention the Department of Government Efficiency, but did promise to “challenge the status quo in order to find new and better ways of helping VA beneficiaries.”

He also said he would “celebrate the vast majority of VA employees who do a great job every day and hold employees accountable when they fall short of the mission.”

White House officials on Wednesday blasted media reports that operatives from the new government efficiency agency have covertly installed outside servers on federal finance systems to monitor employees and improperly accessed classified material without appropriate clearance.

DOGE senior advisor Katie Miller said in a statement that the accusations were “made up tall tales from uninformed career bureaucrats who probably telework.”

But in recent days, administration officials have moved quickly — and, critics argue, illegally — to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Education, as part of efforts to shrink the footprint of the federal government.

Last week, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Mark Takano, D-Calif., urged VA employees to not “fall for Elon’s scam” and accept buyout offers from the administration designed to cull tens of thousands of jobs from the federal payroll.

“Elon Musk said the same thing to Twitter employees, and he scammed them too. He didn’t pay any of the severance he promised them,” he said in a statement. “Civil servants are his next target, and Donald Trump is egging him on.”

VA leaders have already placed about 60 department employees focused on diversity and inclusion programming on administrative leave, and last week dismissed the heads of the Center for Women Veterans and the Center for Minority Veterans.

Collins, in his confirmation hearing, promised that “I will be the biggest cheerleader for every VA employee out there who is out there getting up every morning, doing it right, making sure we’re taking care of our veterans.”

But he also said that the department must focus on accountability and efficiency to ensure taxpayer funds aren’t being wasted.

The department currently employs about 479,000 individuals and handles medical and benefits information for more than 9 million veterans.