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DOGE’s Growing Reach into Personal Data: What it Means for Human Rights  (Deborah Brown, Just Security)
On March 20, the Trump administration issued an executive order that dangerously expands the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to data. It looks to eliminate “information silos” that are crucial for protecting privacy and preventing government abuse, and it could lay the groundwork for creating a massive database that combines all sensitive personal data of anyone government agencies hold data on. This is every bit as dangerous and dystopian as it sounds.
The administration is directing all federal agencies to modify or rescind any regulations preventing the sharing of unclassified data and records with other parts of the U.S. government, as well as to ensure “unfettered access” to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive federal funding, including those stored in third-party databases. The aim of this dangerous expansion of data sharing is purportedly to stop “waste, fraud, and abuse” and “eliminate inefficiency.” This builds on months of overreach by DOGE within federal agencies, which has already sparked lawsuits and alarm from privacy experts, advocates, and public servants.
This executive order throws the door open to actions that could violate the U.S. government’s international human rights obligations. In response, Congress should urgently pass legislation to meaningfully protect people’s personal data, including by updating and reforming the Privacy Act – a Watergate era law that limits how the federal government can collect, use, and share information about U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

A Flight from the Dollar Could Wreck America’s Finances  (Economist)
The currency’s dominance enables very high debts and deficits, meaning a plunge might spell disaster

The Trump Administration Repealed Zero Tolerance Policy for Rogue Gun Dealers  (Stefanie Feldman, Just Security)
On Apr. 7, the Trump Administration announced its most significant action on guns to date: the termination of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) policy of zero tolerance for gun dealers that willfully violate the law. This step is the first of many the Trump Administration will likely take to dismantle the Biden Administration’s efforts to curtail the flow of firearms reaching the hands of criminals. The action threatens public safety in the United States, as well as America’s diplomatic relationship with Mexico.