The problem of growing credit card debt is not limited to the general public. Even employees of the US federal government face the same issue – at least, that’s what DOGE, a government audit body reportedly conceived by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, has confirmed.
Recently, the official social media handle of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) posted that its programme to audit unused and unneeded credit cards has been expanded to 30 agencies. It also noted that, after seven weeks, around 470,000 credit cards have been deactivated.
In the same post, DOGE further points out that there were around 4.6 million active cards and accounts at the start of the audit; therefore, there is still more work to do.
Number of cards issued
The post also includes the number of credit cards issued by various US government departments, including the Department of Defence, National Science Foundation, Export-Import Bank, and Farm Credit Administration, among others.
These cards are divided into two categories: purchase cards and travel cards. The post shared data for both categories.
For example, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had 12,488 purchase cards and 67,376 travel cards before the pause, according to the data.
The Department of the Interior had 20,998 purchase cards and 56,909 travel cards before the audit. Treasury employees were issued 3,459 purchase cards and 51,348 travel cards. The Department of Transportation had 84,268 purchase cards and 38,924 travel cards.
Elon Musk called these numbers “crazy” in response to DOGE’s post. He wrote, “Twice as many credit cards are issued and active than the total number of government employees! Crazy.”
DOGE using AI
Meanwhile, in other news, Elon Musk’s DOGE team is reportedly using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency’s communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter, Reuters reported.
While much of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost-cutting.
The DOGE team is also using the Signal app to communicate, according to one other person with direct knowledge of the matter, potentially violating federal record-keeping rules because messages can be set to disappear after a period of time.
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