What I don't seem to understand, and I haven't found anything about, is this: How did Elon Musk and his staff obtain log-in credentials to the databases? Or log-in credentials for anything, especially given that the people in-charge were not willing to cooperate? And after all this purging is done, can't the databases be re-loaded from the backup-tapes?
It's sort of hard to piece it together because there's not a ton of transparency about what's going on. However, there have been a number of well-sourced stories on access at the Treasury Department. David Lebryk, who previously oversaw the payments system, was placed on administrative leave after refusing to cooperate. It only takes one person to say yes.
And reloading databases isn't simple if you have to account for legitimate changes that have occurred post-backup. Given that we're talking about some of the core software that runs our government, I'd be extremely nervous about the whole thing.
This particular story isn't about Elon's team - the PR is authored by the regular project maintainers, presumably in response to the executive orders that are flying around right now.
The “people in charge” ie career government employees who refused to comply were walked out by security and fired. The political “people in charge” are lackeys of Trump and Musk, and they’re the ones who insisted on handing over the credentials.
