‘Do something’: Americans take to streets as Musk team advances

Washington: Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in cities across the US to protest the Trump administration’s early actions and as Elon Musk’s DOGE project prepared to “upgrade” the US aviation system.

People protest during a rally against Elon Musk outside the Treasury Department in Washington.Credit: AP

Protesters in Philadelphia and at state capitols in Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond waved signs denouncing President Donald Trump; billionaire Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency; and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society.

“DOGE is not legit,” read one poster on the state Capitol steps in Jefferson, Missouri, where dozens of protesters gathered. “Why does Elon have your Social Security info???”

In Washington, Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee are demanding answers saying Trump had given Musk and his staff access to sensitive data and classified secrets as part of their work to overhaul the federal government.

The lawmakers wrote to Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, on Wednesday and asked what security precautions had been taken to prevent unauthorised leaks of information by staff at DOGE. Trump tapped Musk to run the out-of-government department, which has quickly gotten to work dismantling whole federal agencies.

People protest during a rally against Elon Musk outside the US Department of Labour in Washington.Credit: AP

Members of Congress have expressed concern that DOGE’s involvement with the US government payment system could lead to security risks or missed payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

A Treasury Department official said a tech executive working with DOGE would have “read-only access”.

A White House official told Reuters that Musk and his team of engineers at the DOGE have a security clearance.

“Those leading this mission with Elon Musk are doing so in full compliance with federal law, appropriate security clearances, and as employees of the relevant agencies, not as outside advisors or entities,” the official said.

People rally against Elon Musk outside the US Department of Labour in Washington on Wednesday.Credit: AP

Project 2025

However, with a string of incidents Musk is known to skirt federal rules. Musk, whose tech business empire reaches deeply into areas of national security, has triggered national security concerns in the past.

“Democracy is not a spectator sport! Do something,” said a sign held aloft by one demonstrator in Philadelphia.

Fearing yet more extremist moves, Senate Democrats have vowed to stay up all night to protest Trump’s nomination of Russ Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025, as White House budget director.

Vought, an influential figure, is in the Musk team’s DOGE cuts slashing across the federal government.

All 47 Democrats say they will vote against Vought. But as the minority party in the Senate, that’s not enough to stop his confirmation. Instead, Senate Democrats are marching through the full 30 hours of debate before a final vote.

Vought was expected to be confirmed as director of the Office of Management and Budget in a Senate vote Thursday (US time).

On the streets, demonstrators decried everything from the president’s immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

US Arab American and Muslim leaders, including some who supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election, criticised the president’s proposal for the US to take over Gaza and resettle Palestinians, but some of them said they still believed he was the best option for lasting peace in the region.

The group Arab Americans for Trump changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace two days ago, reflecting its shift in focus following Trump’s election.

The protests across the states were a result of a movement that has organised online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day.

Outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, a crowd of about 1000 people gathered in freezing temperatures.

Catie Miglietti, from the Ann Arbor area, said Musk’s access to the Treasury Department data was especially concerning to her. She painted a sign depicting Musk puppeteering Trump from his out-raised arm — evoking Musk’s straight-arm gesture during a January speech that some have interpreted as a Nazi salute.

“If we don’t stop it and get Congress to do something, it’s an attack on democracy,” Miglietti said.

Air-traffic overhaul

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Musk’s team at the DOGE would work with US aviation authorities to “rethink” the nation’s airspace.

Duffy said he had spoken with Musk and that DOGE was going to help with plans to modernise the US aviation system.

“We’re going to rethink our airspace, and we’re going to do it quickly,” Duffy said during remarks at an event in Washington, without offering specifics about potential changes. In a separate post on X, Duffy said the DOGE team would “plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.”

The remarks underscore how the organisation led by the world’s richest man is rapidly spreading across the federal government in what they say is an effort to boost efficiency and root out waste. The national airspace system overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration manages the safety and movement of thousands of aircraft across the country, making it some of the federal government’s most critical infrastructure.

“We’re going to upgrade and make sure that America has the most innovative, technologically advanced air system, air-traffic control system,” Duffy said.

DOGE was envisioned as a broad cost-cutting and deregulation agency, but the Trump executive order that created it narrowed that mandate to modernising federal information technology.

DOGE’s involvement in managing US airspace will raise questions about Musk’s conflicts of interest, since the FAA regulates his rocket company, SpaceX.

A US Army helicopter that collided midair with an American Airlines regional jet last week revived longstanding concerns about a US shortage of air-traffic controllers and their reliance on ageing technologies. The fatal accident killed 67 people, making it the worst US civil aviation disaster in decades.

The US Government Accountability Office warned in a December report that the FAA needed to take urgent action to update its air-traffic controller systems, noting that a 2023 risk assessment found 76 per cent were either unsustainable or potentially unsustainable.

Duffy also said he would announce a plan in the coming days to “surge” more air traffic controllers into the system, without offering specifics. He did not say whether DOGE was part of that plan.

“It’s going to take us time to get more air-traffic controllers in the space,” Duffy said at the event. “But we have a plan in place that’s going to allow us to surge them and I’m going to announce that in the next couple of days.”

AP, Bloomberg

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