In a significant breach of traditional federal security protocols, operatives from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) secured wide-ranging access to the National Finance Center (NFC) in early February. This sensitive system manages human resources and payroll functions for elite agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The infiltration, facilitated through the Small Business Administration (SBA), allowed unauthorized personnel to view the personal data of approximately 650,000 federal employees.
The Rapid Infiltration of Federal Payroll Infrastructure
Internal documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests reveal that Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, a 19-year-old DOGE hire, and Donald Park, a private equity investor, gained entry to core financial systems within five hours of an “urgent” request. Coristine, whose background includes a dismissal from a previous internship over suspected data leaks, was transitioned into various government roles at the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Social Security Administration to facilitate this level of oversight.
The mechanical process began on February 3, when Stephen Kucharski, a director within the SBA, ordered colleagues to provide Coristine and Park with administrative access to all agency systems immediately. Records show the request was fast-tracked under extreme time pressure, bypassing the standard vetting and security clearance procedures typically required for handling sensitive national security data.
Sensitive Data Exposure: From SSNs to Mainframe Control
The NFC, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), serves as the financial backbone for over 170 federal agencies. By gaining “admin authority” to the NFC mainframe and “read-only” access to the Insight and Reporting Center applications, DOGE operatives were positioned to view:
- Social Security numbers and dates of birth.
- Home addresses and personal banking information.
- Detailed salary, deduction, and debt records.
- Citizenship status and alien registration numbers.
A source familiar with the NFC operations stated that such requests usually undergo rigorous evaluation to ensure the “least privilege” principle. Instead, the operatives were granted nearly unlimited visibility into the lives of law enforcement officers and federal agents.
Bypassing Security Protocols: A Five-Hour Digital Coup
The speed of the acquisition has alarmed public policy experts. Don Moynihan, a professor at the University of Michigan, noted that the timeline suggests a total bypass of standard security clearances. “As far as we know, these people don’t have real security background checks,” Moynihan told WIRED. He emphasized that one group operating across multiple agencies and accessing diverse datasets simultaneously is unprecedented in modern governance.
While SBA spokesperson Caitlin O’Dea maintained that all personnel are subject to “rigorous clearance protocols,” members of the House Oversight Committee have expressed sharp dissent. Representative Stephen Lynch questioned whether Coristine and other DOGE affiliates passed the necessary background checks, accusing the administration of prioritizing political whims over national security.
The “Immigration Agenda” and Data Consolidation
The true purpose behind this aggressive data collection remains opaque, though patterns are emerging. Beyond payroll systems, Coristine secured access to the Capital Access Financial System (CAFS), which contains granular data on small business loans, including race, gender, and business locations. This consolidation of disparate datasets has fueled concerns that DOGE is building a comprehensive database to support the administration’s broader immigration and law enforcement agendas.
Previous reports indicate that DOGE has been merging datasets from various agencies to identify individuals for removal or targeted law enforcement actions. “We’re left speculating what the intention was here, given the information vacuum created by DOGE,” Moynihan concluded, highlighting the lack of transparency surrounding the department’s operational goals.
