A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is still hard at work burrowing into U.S. federal agencies, despite the departure of Elon Musk.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
At the Department of Agriculture, one DOGE staffer recently got a lot of power. He can now review and cancel tens of billions of dollars in government payments and loans for American farmers and ranchers. That's a group that makes up a big chunk of President Trump's political base.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Jenna McLaughlin has the exclusive reporting. So, Jenna, tell us a little bit more about what you found about what DOGE is up to.
JENNA MCLAUGHLIN, BYLINE: Sure, A. So NPR has a team covering government restructuring, and we've been tracking DOGE since February. After seeing some of our other reporting, a source at the U.S. Department of Agriculture reached out to me. They told me that Jordan Wick, who's a young software engineer - he used to work for the self-driving car company Waymo - he got high-level access to this government system that controls billions of dollars in subsidies and loans for millions of U.S. farmers and ranchers.
MARTÍNEZ: Where does that government system live?
MCLAUGHLIN: So it's at a part of the USDA called the Farm Service Agency. Think of it kind of like the agency's bank. They do loans, but they also dole out money for disaster relief, like if there's a big storm or during the COVID-19 pandemic. Basically, it's a lot of sensitive data, and that's part of why the source asked to be anonymous.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, now you found out that Jordan Wick is in that system. So what can he do with all that access?
MCLAUGHLIN: Turns out, a lot. He can see all the sensitive personal and financial data, but he can also write onto the system. That means he can change information. He can basically cancel loans if he wants. That's in line with a memo that went out to USDA staffers announcing that DOGE would be reviewing a big chunk of loans to farmers. Basically, it's a really powerful level of access. My source says no other individual at USDA has it. It goes against access control policies for employees. That same level of access for DOGE at agencies like Social Security and the Treasury Department, it's been challenged in the courts a couple of times. A USDA spokesperson confirmed to us that Wick and others on the so-called efficiency team are now full-time USDA employees. The spokesperson continued to say that they're working to fulfill President Trump's executive order to find fraud.
MARTÍNEZ: Canceling loans. Is DOGE really doing that or messing with this database?
MCLAUGHLIN: It's a really hard question to answer, but not yet. I spoke to Scott Marlow, who used to run FSA programs under President Biden. He said that unless the farmers are keeping a very close eye on their files with USDA, it might actually be really hard to figure out what went wrong or why they aren't being paid. Actually, some payments are seasonal, so they aren't even issued very often. Meanwhile, the source says there aren't really any safeguards or controls that would keep track of what Wick and DOGE are up to in the system.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow, that could sound problematic. Jenna, do we know how farmers and ranchers are feeling about all this?
MCLAUGHLIN: Honestly, it's a tough time to be a farmer in general. There's tariffs, cuts to government programs, ongoing climate-related disasters and so much more. But specifically related to some of this news, I spoke to Zach Ducheneaux. He's the former head of the FSA under President Biden. He's also a rancher from South Dakota. His family has had a ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation for decades. He summed it up pretty succinctly.
ZACH DUCHENEAUX: The challenge that our producers are facing is uncertainty.
MCLAUGHLIN: He tells me that having inexperienced people come in and hold up or threaten farmers' loans, that only adds to the uncertainty and could disrupt entire growing seasons or wipe out small farms.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow. That's NPR's Jenna McLaughlin. Jenna, thank you.
MCLAUGHLIN: Thanks, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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