Kelly, Colleagues Demand VA Secretary Collins Step Up and Defend Veterans’ Private Information from Elon Musk

“Veterans…deserve better than to have an unelected billionaire reviewing their medical records, targeting the benefits they have earned, or using their private information for personal gain.”

This week, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and a group of their Democratic Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to take immediate actions to secure veterans’ personal information provided by VA or other agencies to Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).  

This call follows Musk’s takeover of the U.S. Treasury’s payment system, which includes private information of veterans and their families, and reports of DOGE employees accessing VA computer systems at the Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.  

In the letter to Collins, the Senators demanded the Secretary deny and sever Musk and DOGE’s access to any VA or other government system with information about veterans, and to delete any veterans’ information in their possession.  

“Among many tasks, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is entrusted with safeguarding the private and sensitive information of millions of veterans…Veterans risked their lives to defend our country, and they deserve better than to have an unelected billionaire reviewing their medical records, targeting the benefits they have earned, or using their private information for personal gain,” the senators said. 

The senators stated, “Our nation’s veterans have entrusted their health records, including genetic samples, disability data, bank information, and other private information, to VA. The Department also stores sensitive veteran casework, files of whistleblowers who have come forward with concerns about waste, fraud, and abuse, and sensitive investigative files with veteran and federal employee information.” 

The Senators continued—stressing their concerns of Musk and DOGE’s ability to freely access this information with no transparency or accountability mechanisms, “Meanwhile, the President has given unfettered access to federal databases and systems to Mr. Musk, an unelected citizen, and a team of colleagues with no formal documented employment agreement with the U.S. government. It is a group of private citizens with no experience in the federal government, who lack proper approval from legal and agency authorities, lack the appropriate security clearances, and lack the requisite background investigations or ethical conflict requirements. We are outraged these unelected, unvetted, and unaccountable individuals now have access to sensitive information that has been heavily secured for decades and by Administrations of both parties.” 

There are millions of veterans’ medical records stored in VA’s computer systems. These confidential records include veterans’ prescriptions, diagnoses, and procedures they have undergone. Access to these medical records could give Musk and DOGE the ability to identify veterans who have received abortions or abortion counseling in the past. The Million Veteran Program, which manages the genomic data of its more than one million veteran participants for authorized research programs, also stores its data in VA data systems. In addition, the U.S. Treasury’s payment system stores private information of veterans, surviving spouses, and their families, including their monthly disability compensation amount, home address, and bank account numbers. 

Calling on VA Secretary Collins to uphold the promises he made to Senators during his confirmation process, the group of Senators concluded by saying, “During your confirmation process, you claimed you would be focused on rooting out corruption and ensuring accountability at VA and committed to following the laws passed by Congress. We now call on you to respond quickly and comprehensively to these privacy violations by revoking DOGE’s access to VA systems and insisting they permanently remove all VA data collected from their files.” 

In addition to Kelly and Blumenthal, the letter was signed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Tina Smith (D-MN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Angus King (I-ME), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM).  

The full text of the letter is available here.