Top intelligence lawmaker fears China may exploit DOGE’s changes to government

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said he’s concerned that Chinese espionage units may be mulling ways to exploit new hacking opportunities against the government as the Department of Government Efficiency works to dismantle core segments of the federal enterprise.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said Wednesday that Beijing may be watching closely as federal workers become distracted by the Elon Musk-led DOGE entity which has gained access to several agencies’ sensitive systems and is accelerating the termination of thousands of federal employees.

Referring to Volt Typhoon, a pervasive Chinese cyberespionage group that’s been burrowing into various types of critical infrastructure across the nation for years, he said China’s hacking activity is “as severe as we have ever seen it.”

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