Trump pens executive order pushing agencies to share data

President Donald Trump holds up a pen as he signs an executive order during an education event in the East Room of the White house in Washington, DC, March 20, 2025. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing agencies to share data more broadly in the name of fraud prevention, including by tapping into data from state programs that get federal funding. 

The move has sparked concerns that the order could further embolden billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, even as the group is already facing a number of lawsuits over its access to sensitive government data.

“The Trump administration is escalating its effort to consolidate federal data across agencies, opening the floodgates for unplanned uses of information that go far beyond what people expected when they entrusted their data to the government,” said Elizabeth Laird, director of equity and ...