:Marko Elez

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| occupation = Software engineer, Department of Government Efficiency

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Marko Elez (born 1999 or 2000) is an American software engineer and a government employee as part of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He came under public scrutiny after being granted administrator-level access to critical U.S. Treasury payment systems, despite having no previous experience in government.{{cite magazine |first1=Vittoria |last1=Elliott |first2=Dhruv |last2=Mehrotra |first3=Leah |last3=Feiger |first4=Tim |last4=Marchman |date=February 4, 2025 |title=Elon Musk Associate Given Access to Treasury Payment Systems |url=https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-associate-bfs-federal-payment-system/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=February 5, 2025 |archive-date=February 5, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250205021207/https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-associate-bfs-federal-payment-system/ |url-status=live }}

Education and career

Raised in Montgomery Township, New Jersey, Elez graduated from Montgomery High School in 2018.{{cite news |last=Gibson |first=Carl |url=https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/could-do-anything-25-year-old-musk-employee-has-admin-access-to-6-trillion-payment-system/ar-AA1yp62t |title='Could do anything': 25 year-old Musk employee has admin access to $6 trillion payment system |work=AlterNet |via=MSN |date=February 4, 2025 |access-date=March 2, 2025 |quote=Elez — who did not return AlterNet's requests for comment via phone and email — has deleted his public LinkedIn profile. But records reviewed by AlterNet show he graduated Montgomery High School in Skillman, New Jersey in 2018, and graduated from Rutgers University in 2021 before joining SpaceX as a software engineer.}} He graduated from Rutgers University in 2021, where he studied software development and distributed systems. After graduating, Elez worked at SpaceX, where he was involved in vehicle telemetry, Starship software, and satellite systems.{{cite news |first=James |last=Liddell |date=February 4, 2025 |title=Elon Musk's Treasury Influence Sparks Lawsuit |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-marko-elez-treasury-doge-b2691932.html |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=February 5, 2025 |archive-date=February 6, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206150701/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-marko-elez-treasury-doge-b2691932.html |url-status=live }} He later joined X (formerly Twitter), focusing on search AI and software development. He also began working at xAI, where he was listed as an active employee as of February 2025.{{cite news |first=Grace |last=Kay |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/marko-elez-doge-xai-org-chart-2025-2 |title=Marko Elez, who left DOGE amid social media controversy, worked for xAI |website=Business Insider |date=February 21, 2025 |access-date=February 24, 2025}}

Business Insider also tied Elez to Musk's brain computer interface startup Neuralink, though his exact affiliation is unclear. His work experience prior to DOGE was exclusively within Elon Musk's companies.{{cite magazine |first=Hafiz |last=Rashid |title=Elon Musk's 25-Year-Old Aide Granted Access to Treasury Department Code |url=https://newrepublic.com/post/191117/elon-musk-25-year-old-aide-doge-treasury-department-code |magazine=The New Republic |date=February 5, 2025 |access-date=February 5, 2025}}

=Department of Government Efficiency=

Elez joined Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and was subsequently appointed to the Treasury Department.{{cite news |last=Duehren |first=Andrew |date=February 11, 2025 |title=Elon Musk Used Treasury Data to Help X Employee, Report Finds |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/elon-musk-treasury-data-x-employee.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=April 12, 2025 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250212010655/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/elon-musk-treasury-data-x-employee.html |archive-date=2025-02-12}} Shortly after joining, he was granted administrator-level access to the Payment Automation Manager and Secure Payment System at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS). His privileges allowed him to modify critical financial infrastructure, despite concerns from Treasury officials and lawmakers. In early February 2025, Elez visited a Treasury facility in Kansas City, meeting with BFS staff and gaining deeper insight into the federal payment processing system.{{cite news |first1=Jake |last1=Bleiberg |first2=Viktoria |last2=Dendrinou |first3=Gregory |last3=Korte |date=February 4, 2025 |title=Treasury Brings in Two Members from Musk's DOGE Team |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-04/us-treasury-brings-in-two-members-from-musk-s-doge-team |work=Bloomberg |access-date=February 5, 2025 |archive-date=February 4, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250204200853/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-04/us-treasury-brings-in-two-members-from-musk-s-doge-team |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Young Engineer at Elon Musk's DOGE Gains Access to Secret US Payment System |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/young-engineer-at-elon-musks-doge-gains-access-to-secret-us-payment-system/articleshow/117926400.cms |work=The Times of India |date=February 5, 2025 |access-date=February 5, 2025}} His access to treasury systems was restricted on February 5.{{cite web |last1=Tangermann |first1=Victor |title=Elon's Doge Boy Who "Resigned" Was Apparently Doing Something Very Naughty With the Treasury's Code |url=https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-doge-boy-resigned-treasury-code |website=Futurism |access-date=February 8, 2025 |date=February 7, 2025}} Treasury officials told Wired that it would be extremely uncommon for a Bureau of Fiscal Services employee to have access to the payment system mainframes and the databases simultaneously. According to a Treasury official's affidavit, Elez used his access to manually identify and review foreign aid payment files, including ones coming from USAID. Elez reportedly copied and downloaded a pair of USAID files from the PAM database to his laptop.{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=Vittoria |last2=Giles |first2=Matt |date=March 26, 2025 |title=Elon Musk's DOGE Plan Targets Treasury and USAID for Sweeping Cuts |url=https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-doge-plan-treasury-usaid/ |website=Wired |access-date=April 12, 2025}}

Concerns remain that DOGE's influence could allow for politically motivated financial decisions. Treasury officials revoked Elez's system access on February 5. In court filings on February 11, the Treasury Department acknowledged that Elez had been inadvertently granted read/write permissions to the payment system, revising their previous assertion that he had only read-only access.{{cite news |first=Jeff |last=Stein |date=February 11, 2025 |title=Treasury revoked editing access 'mistakenly' given to DOGE staffer |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/11/doge-treasury-access-marko-elez/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=February 11, 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Hawkinson |first1=Katie |title=DOGE staffer accused of racist posts was 'mistakenly' given power to alter federal payments system |url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/musk-doge-marko-elez-treasury-b2697126.html |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=February 14, 2025 |date=February 12, 2025}} The government maintained that Elez had not used his ability to edit treasury systems.{{cite news |last1=Shapero |first1=Julia |title=Treasury Department revokes access 'mistakenly' given to Musk aide |url=https://thehill.com/business/5141149-former-doge-employee-editing-access-treasury-payment-system/ |newspaper=The Hill |date=February 12, 2025 |access-date=February 14, 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Pavia |first1=Will |title=Doge tech bro, 25, handed control of US Treasury payments 'by mistake' |url=https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/doge-staff-list-marko-elez-elon-musk-bqrg0xtrg |newspaper=The Times |access-date=February 14, 2025 |date=February 13, 2025}}

Elez resigned from DOGE on February 6, 2025, after being linked to a now-deleted social media account containing racist content; the account had also posted in support of eugenics.{{Cite news |last=Long |first= Katherine |title=DOGE Staffer Resigns Over Racist Posts |url=https://www.wsj.com/tech/doge-staffer-resigns-over-racist-posts-d9f11a93?st=RVXVwg&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink|date=February 6, 2025 |access-date=February 6, 2025 |work=The Wall Street Journal |language=en-US}} The tweets made by the account, under the handle @nullllptr, included statements such as "I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth" in June 2024 and "Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool" in July 2024. In September 2024, shortly before the account's deletion, it posted, "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity" and "Normalize Indian hate."{{cite news |last1=Mangan |first1=Dan |last2=Breuninger |first2=Kevin |title=Staffer at Musk's DOGE resigns after racist social media posts exposed |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/06/musk-doge-staffer-resigns-over-racist-social-media-posts.html |publisher=CNBC |date=February 6, 2025 |access-date=February 7, 2025 |archive-date=February 6, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206224546/https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/06/musk-doge-staffer-resigns-over-racist-social-media-posts.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Allyn |first1=Bobby |last2=Bond |first2=Shannon |title=Member of Elon Musk's DOGE team resigns after racist posts resurface |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/02/06/nx-s1-5289337/elon-musk-doge-treasury |publisher=National Public Radio |date=February 7, 2025 |access-date=February 7, 2025 |archive-date=February 7, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207002354/https://www.npr.org/2025/02/06/nx-s1-5289337/elon-musk-doge-treasury |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Honderich |first1=Holly |title=Member of Musk's Doge resigns after reports of racist posts |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93q625y04wo |publisher=BBC |date=February 7, 2025 |access-date=February 7, 2025 |archive-date=February 7, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207191248/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93q625y04wo |url-status=live }}

The following day, Elon Musk initiated a poll on X asking users whether Elez should be rehired.{{Cite web |last=Mangan |first=Dan |date=February 7, 2025 |title=DOGE chief Elon Musk polls X users on whether staffer who quit over racist tweets should be rehired |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/elon-musk-doge-racist-treasury-x-staff.html |access-date=February 7, 2025 |website=CNBC |language=en |archive-date=February 7, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207175859/https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/elon-musk-doge-racist-treasury-x-staff.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Nazzaro |first1=Miranda |title=Musk asks X if he should rehire DOGE staffer under fire for racist posts |url=https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5132574-elon-musk-doge-poll-marko-elez/ |newspaper=The Hill |date=February 7, 2025 |access-date=February 7, 2025}} The majority of the 385,000 X users polled said that Elez should be rehired.{{cite news |title=Musk vows to rehire deputy who apparently joked about annihilation of Israel and Gaza |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/musk-vows-to-rehire-deputy-who-apparently-joked-about-annihilation-of-israel-and-gaza/ |work=The Times of Israel |agency=Agence France-Presse |access-date=February 14, 2025 |date=February 8, 2025}} Musk stated that "to err is human, to forgive divine."{{cite news |last1=Asher-Schapiro |first1=Avi |display-authors=Et al |title=Elon Musk's Demolition Crew |url=https://projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-doge-tracker/ |work=ProPublica |access-date=February 13, 2025 |date=February 6, 2025}}{{cite web |title='To err is human, to forgive divine': Elon Musk to rehire employee who resigned after giving 'normalise hate against Indians' remark |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/to-err-is-human-to-forgive-divine-elon-musk-to-rehire-employee-who-resigned-after-giving-normalise-hate-against-indians-remark/articleshow/118052197.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |access-date=February 15, 2025 |date=February 8, 2025}}

Vice President JD Vance subsequently advocated for Elez's reinstatement.{{cite news |last1=Mangan |first1=Dan |first2=Kevin |last2=Breuninger |title=Vance tells Musk that DOGE staffer who resigned after posting racist tweets should be rehired |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/elon-musk-doge-racist-treasury-x-staff.html |publisher=CNBC |access-date=February 7, 2025 |date=February 7, 2025}}{{cite news |first1=Ryan |last1=Mac |first2=Kate |last2=Conger |title=Vance and Trump Call for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Quit Over Racist Posts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/politics/vance-doge-staffer-racist-posts.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 7, 2025 |date=February 7, 2025 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207233401/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/politics/vance-doge-staffer-racist-posts.html |archive-date=February 7, 2025}}{{Cite web |last=Price |first=Michelle L. |date=February 7, 2025 |title=Musk says he will bring back DOGE staffer who resigned after a report of racist postings |url=https://apnews.com/article/trump-doge-marko-elez-musk-vance-racist-posts-959272aca0eece7385cdbc470930bf37 |access-date=February 24, 2025 |website=Associated Press |language=en}} Vance wrote in a post on X that while he did not agree "with some of Elez's posts... I don't think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life."{{cite news |last1=Honderich |first1=Holly |title=Musk to rehire Doge aide who resigned over racist posts |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93q625y04wo |publisher=BBC |access-date=February 15, 2025 |date=February 7, 2025}} President Donald Trump endorsed Vance's position at a news conference, after which Musk announced Elez's reinstatement.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jd-vance/bring-back-vance-says-supports-rehiring-doge-staffer-resigned-racist-s-rcna191224|title=Elon Musk says DOGE staffer who resigned for racist X posts will be brought back|last=Abbruzzese|first=Jason|publisher=NBC News|quote=Elon Musk said Friday that he will bring back a DOGE staff member who resigned after it was found that he had previously made racist remarks online.|date=February 7, 2025|accessdate=February 7, 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Garrison |first1=Joey |title=Musk reinstates DOGE staffer who resigned over racist posts after JD Vance leads outcry |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/07/jd-vance-doge-marko-elez-resignation-racist/78333485007/ |newspaper=USA Today |access-date=February 14, 2025 |date=February 7, 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Rubin |first1=April |title=Musk says DOGE staffer who resigned over racist tweets "will be brought back" |url=https://www.axios.com/2025/02/06/doge-staffer-resigns-racist-social-media-elon-musk |website=Axios |access-date=February 14, 2025 |date=February 7, 2025}} Some Indian American groups protested the decision to rehire Elez.{{cite news |first=Purav |last=Thakur |title=Normalising Indian hate: How Indian-Americans are fighting back in US |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/normalizing-indian-hate-how-indian-americans-are-fighting-back-in-us-vivek-ramaswamy-jd-vance-marko-elez-2678327-2025-02-11 |work=India Today |access-date=February 14, 2025 |date=February 11, 2025}} U.S. representative Ro Khanna challenged JD Vance directly over the decision.{{cite web |last1=Timotija |first1=Filip |title='Grow up': Vance, Khanna spar over rehiring DOGE staffer |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5133970-vance-khanna-doge-staffer-rehiring/ |newspaper=The Hill |date=February 7, 2025 |access-date=February 15, 2025}}{{Cite news |date=February 9, 2025 |title=Marko Elez's exit over 'normalize Indian hate', rehiring, JD Vance vs Ro Khanna: Here's what happened so far |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/marko-elezs-exit-over-normalize-india-hate-rehiring-jd-vance-vs-ro-khanna-heres-what-happened-so-far/articleshow/118071308.cms |access-date=February 15, 2025 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}} In April 2025, Second Lady of the United States Usha Vance, who is of Indian heritage, said in a The Free Press interview that she condemned the views as "terrible" and said that "Very, very intelligent people say things that are sometimes very, very ill-founded" because of the modern, quick-moving information ecosystem.{{Cite web |date=2025-04-09 |title=Usha Vance addresses JD supporting the rehiring of DOGE staffer who made racist post |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/usha-jd-vance-musk-doge-social-media-b2730402.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1744222096 |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

Elez subsequently appeared on a roster of DOGE employees, with a government email address linked to the Executive Office of the President.{{cite news |first1=Emily |last1=Birnbaum |first2=Jake |last2=Bleiberg |first3=Dana |last3=Hull |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-21/doge-staffer-behind-racist-posts-reappears-at-social-security |title=DOGE Staffer Behind Racist Posts Reappears at Social Security |website=Bloomberg |date=February 20, 2025 |access-date=February 24, 2025}} Later that week, he was reportedly reinstated at the Social Security Administration.{{cite news |first=Alex |last=Woodward |url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/marko-elez-doge-social-security-elon-musk-b2702411.html |title=DOGE staffer accused of racist posts reinstated at Social Security |newspaper=The Independent |date=February 21, 2025 |access-date=February 24, 2025}}

In March 2025, Business Insider reported that Elez was part of a DOGE detachment assigned to the Department of Labor.{{cite news |first1=Juliana |last1=Kaplan |first2=Jack |last2=Newsham |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/doge-staffer-fertility-clinic-pronatalist-department-of-labor |title=A new DOGE staffer at the Department of Labor has helped run a fertility clinic and has pronatalist ties |website=Business Insider |date=March 5, 2025}} A March 2025 lawsuit revealed that Elez had violated Treasury policy by emailing an unencrypted spreadsheet containing personal information to members of the Trump administration.{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Wes |date=March 15, 2025 |title=A DOGE staffer broke Treasury policy by emailing unencrypted personal data |url=https://www.theverge.com/news/630894/doge-treasury-lawsuit-marko-elez-unencrypted-emails |access-date=March 16, 2025 |website=The Verge |language=en-US}}{{cite magazine |last1=Nolan |first1=Beatrice |title=A 25-year-old DOGE staffer violated Treasury policy by emailing unencrypted personal data to Trump administration officials |url=https://fortune.com/2025/03/17/doge-staffer-marko-elez-treasury-policy-personal-data-trump-officials/ |work=Fortune |access-date=March 20, 2025 |date=March 17, 2025}} According to TechCrunch, "The filing did not say exactly what data was shared, but described the personal information as including a name (such as a person or entity), the type of transaction, and an amount of money."{{cite news |last1=Whittaker |first1=Zack |title=DOGE staffer violated Treasury rules by emailing unencrypted personal data |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/17/doge-staffer-violated-treasury-rules-by-emailing-unencrypted-personal-data/ |website=TechCrunch |access-date=March 20, 2025 |date=March 17, 2025}} Later in March of 2025, The Office of the Chief Information Officer in the HHS was asked to submit information about three DOGE members, including Elez. "The request asked for access agreements for grants and contract databases, Medicare/Medicaid databases, HIGLAS and other databases containing personal information. It also requested documents or records showing approval to share information or documents 'from HHS systems outside of HHS.'"{{cite web |last=Tong |first=Noah |date=March 21, 2025 |title='Full and prompt access': Trump orders entry to sensitive government data systems |url=https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/full-and-prompt-access-trump-opens-entry-sensitive-government-systems |website=Fierce Healthcare |access-date=March 23, 2025}}

As of April 2025, The New York Times reports that Elez holds positions at Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Department of Homeland Security.{{cite news |date=February 27, 2025 |title=Who Is in DOGE? Tracking Its Staffers and Allies in the Federal Government |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/02/27/us/politics/doge-staff-list.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=April 12, 2025}} While employed by both the Social Security Administration (SSA) and ICE, Elez was involved in a data-sharing agreement that permitted ICE to use SSA data for law enforcement purposes.{{cite news |first1=Alexandra |last1=Berzon |first2=Hamed |last2=Aleaziz |first3=Nicholas |last3=Nehamas |first4=Ryan |last4=Mac |first5=Tara |last5=Siegel Bernard |date=April 10, 2025 |title=Deportation Plan Risks Social Security Funds, Experts Warn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/us/politics/migrants-deport-social-security-doge.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=April 12, 2025}} Elez serves on a DOGE immigration task force, led by billionaire Antonio Gracias, that developed the technical framework for a comprehensive set of measures, including parole revocations, visa terminations, and subsequent reforms to the asylum adjudication process. The task force's initial actions involved terminating parole for 6,300 undocumented immigrants with criminal records or listed on the FBI's terrorist watchlist.{{cite news |first=Sophia |last=Cai |date=April 11, 2025 |title=DOGE Establishes Task Force to Accelerate Deportations |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/doge-immigration-taskforce-00287327 |work=Politico |access-date=April 12, 2025}} This effort required coordination with the Social Security Administration, where Elez is employed, to deactivate their Social Security numbers by adding them to a database used for tracking deceased individuals.

Later in April 2025, The New York Times reported that Elez, alongside another DOGE engineer, was leading President Trump's "gold card" initiative, a program enabling the United States to offer special immigration visas for $5 million each.{{cite web |last1=Mac |first1=Ryan |last2=Aleaziz |first2=Hamed |date=April 16, 2025 |title=Elon Musk’s DOGE Team Building System to Sell ‘Gold Card’ Immigrant Visas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/us/politics/gold-card-visa-trump-musk.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=April 28, 2025}} Days later, Wired reported that Elez had access to the Department of Labor’s Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) program, which funds job training and employment services for formerly incarcerated individuals.{{cite web |last1=Feiger |first1=Leah |last2=Elliott |first2=Vittoria |date=April 10, 2025 |title=DOGE Seeks Access to Immigration Data From Department of Labor |url=https://www.wired.com/story/doge-access-immigration-data-department-of-labor/ |website=Wired |access-date=April 12, 2025}} Concurrently, The Washington Post reported that Elez, serving as a DOGE advisor at the Department of Justice, had gained access to the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s Courts and Appeals System (ECAS). This system contains detailed records of immigrants’ interactions with the U.S. immigration system, including names, addresses, prior immigration court testimony, and any law enforcement history.{{cite web |last1=Natanson |first1=Hannah |last2=Roebuck |first2=Jeremy |last3=Siegel |first3=Rachel |date=April 21, 2025 |title=DOGE Pushes to Remake Immigration Courts, Raising Concerns About Due Process |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/04/21/doge-ecas-justice-immigration-courts-trump/ |website=The Washington Post |access-date=April 28, 2025}}