If I were a betting man, I would not have put my early money on the Department of Government Efficiency bailing out an Obama-era, government-built tech program that is way over budget, has enabled fraud, and put taxpayers’ personal information at risk. But if you follow the latest news coming out of the General Services Administration, that is exactly what is happening.
Before I accept that DOGE is going to prop up what it promised to eliminate — waste, fraud, and abuse — let’s consider the facts.
The idea of Login.gov began under the Obama administration and, after a slow start, was significantly expanded with federal funding and support once former President Joe Biden took office. Why? Because it was an opportunity to expand the role of government by requiring people to access government programs through it. The problem with this? It is driven by a philosophy, government control, not efficiency for the taxpayer.
Over $300 million has been sunk into Login.gov to date, and to meaningfully improve it, far more would be needed. Effectiveness has not been the website’s strong suit. It is meant to be the citizens’ “one account” to access government services, yet it has not been able to meet the level of security required to prevent fraud and protect taxpayer information required by the federal government itself.
A GSA inspector general report less than two years ago exposed Login.gov for committing fraud against people, misleading customers in government contracts claiming compliance with the very security standard they admitted behind closed doors that they could not meet. To this day, the IRS refuses to use the website because it cannot implement proper fraud controls, according to the Treasury Department inspector general.
Even with all of this, and through a firm belief in the cause of government control, the Biden administration decided to stand firm and attempted to force every agency in the federal government to use Login.gov through a draft executive order.
Despite being rightly called out before Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and the House Oversight Committee, the Labor Department redirected taxpayer funds to promote the widespread adoption of Login.gov by state agencies, calling this effort the “National ID Verification Offering.” The program is riddled with emphasis on equity research.
It gets better. Before taking the necessary steps to meet the requirements for the security standard it couldn’t meet, the GSA performed an equity study that took it more than a year to complete. And while Login.gov claims to have finally met the required security standards, there is no transparency as to how it is doing so, again raising questions. But the proof is in the pudding. So what are the results?
Despite persistent security and privacy concerns from oversight bodies, the website still actively exposes taxpayers and taxpayer dollars to fraud. The personal information of 57,417 IRS users was sent to unauthorized locations outside of the United States, and after hackers stole $7.5 million from the Department of Health and Human Services grant system, HHS quietly removed Login.gov from its portal and replaced it with a private sector alternative.
People couldn’t enroll in health benefits because the website couldn’t link people’s identities to their accounts. States such as Colorado are looking to replace Login.gov at agencies, calling it “insufficient,” resulting in payments to “bad actor groups.” And if you want to check on Login.gov’s results with regard to how it works for the public? You can’t. Login.gov has been hiding its most important performance metrics for the past two years.
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What the people trying to save Login.gov don’t understand is that you can’t change the course of a program that was built with government intrusion as its foundation. This is not something that should become the pet project of some ambitious DOGE engineer.
At a time when America’s adversaries are looking for the next soft target, there is simply too much at stake when protecting the identities of taxpayers. DOGE should do here what it has promised to deliver: elimination of a wasteful and fraudulent government program. Elon Musk is doing an incredible job for this country in rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. But as he will admit, no one is perfect. Musk said DOGE won’t bat 1.000 and that it will act quickly to correct mistakes. Hopefully, he compels his team to recognize the losing bet that is Login.gov.
David Urban is a Republican strategist, consultant, and former senior adviser to President Donald Trump. With over three decades of experience in the military, law, business, politics, and public service sectors, Urban has advised on innovation, digital strategy, and technology’s growing role in modern governance.