(Reuters) – Tom Krause, the deputy of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is slated to become the financial assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
Krause, who is also the CEO of Cloud Software Group, will replace David Lebryk, a top-ranking career Treasury official who retired after a clash with allies of Musk over payment systems access, the report added, citing sources.
The Treasury Department, DOGE and Cloud Software Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Krause told employees of Cloud Software Group in a letter on Wednesday that he would keep his job at the company even as he works at Treasury as a “special government employee,” the report added.
The decision puts DOGE in a potential position to make sweeping changes to the federal budget, the report said, citing the sources. The Treasury payment systems, responsible for disbursing more than $6 trillion in annual government spending, contain sensitive taxpayer information, and some former Treasury officials have expressed concerns about granting access to individuals with private business interests, it added.
Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the effort to identify fraud and waste in government.
The Treasury said on Tuesday that Musk’s team has been granted “read-only access” to its payment systems codes, but denied that this cut off any government payments, including those for the Social Security retirement and Medicare healthcare programs for seniors.
(Reporting by Ojasvi Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao)
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