DOGE Staffer Forced to Resign Over Old Social Media Posts Is Rehired — With Even More Access

Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

A DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) staffer who resigned in February over resurfaced social media posts has been reinstated with more access to sensitive data, according to a new court filing.

Marko Elez, a 25-year-old software engineer with a long history of working with Elon Musk, works within the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as other federal agencies where he has access to private information.

NPR reported on Elez’s new role:

Elez was given access as part of President Trump’s directive “to identify waste, fraud, and abuse and to modernize government technology and software to increase efficiency and productivity,” according to the filing, which said Elez had not accessed any of the sensitive Labor Department systems as of March 26.

The week of March 5, Elez was granted permission to access several HHS systems, including Medicare and Medicaid payment databases, HHS contract systems and a “national database of wage and employment information” that aids with child support enforcement. The filing says HHS later disabled his permission to access the Medicare and Medicaid databases.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas red-flagged DOGE’s access to Treasury databases in February after finding that “sensitive information has already been shared outside of the Treasury Department, in potential violation of federal law.”

An internal audit found that Elez sent a spreadsheet containing sensitive information to two General Services Administration officials who did not have the clearance to access the information.

Elez’s controversial social media posts included boasting that he was “racist before it was cool.” He also posted “Normalize Indian hate” and “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity.”

“He will be brought back,” Musk posted to X after Elez resigned. “To err is human, to forgive divine.”

The filing detailing Elez’s new role comes in response to a lawsuit from labor unions and other groups demanding more information about DOGE staffers and activities.