Hirono, Colleagues Call Out Education Department’s “Inadequate” Response to Senate Inquiry on DOGE’s Access to Federal Student Loan Data

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and 12 colleagues in sending a letter to Acting Secretary of Education Denise Carter, raising concerns about the Department of Education’s (ED) response to their inquiry into the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to millions of student loan borrowers’ personal data. Earlier this week, a federal court blocked DOGE’s access to sensitive ED databases with borrower information.

“[T]he Department’s response was woefully inadequate, may have contained misleading information, and raised new concerns about the nature and extent of DOGE’s access to the Department’s internal systems,” the Senators wrote.

ED’s response to the lawmakers’ initial letter failed to answer basic questions about DOGE’s access to student loan borrowers’ personal data. 

• The Department refused to confirm or deny whether DOGE had been granted access to the National Student Loan Data System or other databases with sensitive federal student loan data. 
• ED claimed it was committed to following “applicable laws and regulations” regarding management of borrower data, but it did not provide any information about if, how, why, by whom, and to what extent DOGE was granted access to these databases. 
• While ED said the DOGE team was onboarded through the proper processes, “including background investigation and system access authorization,” additional information indicates that at least one DOGE employee granted access “ha[d] not yet completed ethics or information security trainings” according to a declaration submitted in federal court two days before ED’s response. 

ED also shared new information about the extent of DOGE’s access to other sensitive databases, saying that DOGE “is currently supporting a review of Department and Federal Student Aid (FSA) contracts to identify possible efficiencies…To support this work, one employee had read-only access to two of FSA’s internal systems.” But the Department failed to provide full and declarative information about which DOGE or ED employees had access to which datasets, what they were doing with that access, whether any data is being fed through Artificial Intelligence systems, and why one employee’s access to FSA’s internal systems was revoked. 

ED also failed to provide information on how it intends to ensure data at the department is not compromised or misused, saying only that “robust protections in place to ensure data are secure,” but not providing specifics. 

“The Department’s evasive response, in addition to the recent news that a federal judge has blocked ED from sharing sensitive data with DOGE due to potential violations of federal law, heightens our concerns about whether ED may have violated the law or the federal government’s procedures in handling this data,” concluded the lawmakers. 

The lawmakers pressed the Acting Secretary to provide more information about DOGE employees’ or affiliates’ access to ED’s databases, the safeguards in place to protect federal student loan data, the status of DOGE’s work at the department, and more by March 5, 2025. 

In addition to Senators Hirono and Warren, the letter was signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Tina Smith (D-MN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Peter Welch (D-VT).

The full text of the letter is available here.

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