Senate Democrats want answers from VA secretary after DOGE data dive

Five Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee are asking Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins for answers this week about the reported accessing of veterans’ medical records by Department of Government Efficiency representatives.

In a letter sent to Collins from Sens. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Patty Murray of Washington, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Gary Peters of Michigan, the Democratic lawmakers asked the new VA chief for the names of DOGE surrogates who have visited department facilities and for a list of all VA data, databases and IT systems that the Elon Musk underlings either accessed or requested to access.

“We understand that personnel reporting to Mr. Musk have recently visited VA facilities,” the senators wrote. “Senators, veterans, and members of the public have serious concerns regarding Mr. Musk’s extraordinary and unprecedented activities and the lack of transparency surrounding them, including his potential access to and handling of sensitive or personal information.”

The senators, who requested responses by Thursday, also asked Collins if DOGE staffers accessed, handled, downloaded, copied, or transferred the personally identifiable information or medical records of veterans or VA personnel, along with details regarding the purposes for that access and the number of those affected. The lawmakers also want answers on whether DOGE directly or remotely connected any devices not owned by the federal government to VA systems. 

The concern over veterans’ data privacy follows DOGE dives into other federal systems, including the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service and IT networks at the departments of Education and Energy, among others. The Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General has opened an audit into DOGE access of BFS systems.

It’s unclear whether the Veterans Affairs watchdog would be able to conduct an audit of its own given President Donald Trump’s firing last month of Michael Missal, the former VA inspector general. Collins is named in a lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Missal and seven other inspectors general who were sacked by Trump.

The lawsuit alleges that Collins “and subordinates acting under his authority effectuated and continue to effectuate Michael Missal’s purported removal by cutting off Missal’s access to agency devices, networks, and buildings.” The eight plaintiffs, who said the firings were done without giving notice to Congress or providing case-specific reasons, are asking the court to return them to their jobs and for back pay, benefits and “all other equitable relief that the Court deems necessary and just.”

The VA has also been caught up in the across-the-government downsizing spurred by Trump and DOGE. The agency said last week that it has dismissed more than 1,000 employees, a move that it said would save the VA more than $98 million annually, redirecting “all of those resources back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.”

Agency staff reductions have drawn the ire of several lawmakers, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who in a letter to Collins on Tuesday demanded that the VA layoffs be rescinded.

“One of the reasons I voted for you to become Secretary of Veterans Affairs was your promise to protect the needs of veterans and oppose the privatization of the VA. And then, in your first few weeks on the job, you lay off over 1,000 VA employees at a department that is already understaffed,” Sanders wrote. “There is no way that these layoffs will not negatively impact the veterans of our country in terms of the health care and benefits they receive.”