TheCorporateCounsel.net

While there have been a few rumors floating around about DOGE working at the SEC over the past two months, it now appears that DOGE contacted the SEC last week to initiate an interaction with the SEC Staff. As this Reuters article notes, the Staff was informed that DOGE has indeed arrived on the scene:

SEC staff were informed that the DOGE task force had contacted the regulator, and that they would be treated as staff for the purposes of network, system and data access. The SEC is establishing a liaison team with the “intent to partner” with DOGE, the email said…

“Our intent will be to partner with the DOGE representatives and cooperate with their request following normal processes for ethics requirements, IT security or system training, and establishing their need to know before granting access to restricted systems and data,” the staff email stated.

A spokesperson for the DOGE task force referred questions to the SEC, whose spokesperson confirmed it was beginning to onboard DOGE members. But the SEC declined to comment on what role, if any, Musk would play at the agency as part of DOGE or what data access the team would have. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The article notes that the arrival of DOGE personnel at the agency comes at a time when the SEC is already undergoing staffing changes, with over 600 people agreeing to leave the agency under the resignation and retirement programs that have been offered over the past two months.

During his confirmation hearing, SEC Chairman nominee Paul Atkins noted that he would be definitely willing to work on efficiencies at the SEC if confirmed.

The arrival of DOGE personnel at 100 F Street is not likely to improve the morale around the SEC, where the frequent departures and an overall sense of chaos is undoubtedly contributing to a great deal of distraction and uncertainty for the Staff. I have a great deal of confidence in the talented SEC Staff members who will most certainly be able to continue the agency’s mission amidst this current storm. We all may need to have some patience as the SEC adjusts to a “new normal” over the course of the next weeks and months.

I fully realize that if I had posted a blog with this title and content one year ago, it would have easily been identified as an April Fool’s Day joke – but this is our reality today, and certainly no joking matter.

– Dave Lynn