Letter to California Senator Adam Schiff expressing concerns about Elon Musk and his bogus search for fraud.

 Dear Senator Schiff:

I am an American citizen residing in Australia.  I vote in the state of California, Los Angeles district.  This is why my address looks weird on your contact form.  I have worked in IT for 40 years and have done a lot of work for financial institutions in their fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) departments.  The idea Elon Musk et. al. requires read access, let alone read/write access to government systems is completely wrong.  This is a con job against America.  Here is roughly how fraud and AML work.

 

There is so much data that no human can go through it all so there are various software products that do this.  The software is treated like a person and given login credentials.  For software that listens to real-time transactions, access is given to production systems, production systems are the systems where real things happen.  For fraud or AML that looks through data but not in real time, you usually have a database copy that is refreshed daily.  This allows such products to do their analysis without slowing down real systems.

 

At no time does any human have any access to any real data.  No read only, and certainly no read/write access is given.  The software does its thing and flags anything which it deems suspicious.  Then there are a whole bunch of processes that happen which may lead to individuals getting access to individual records, but only those records.  Elon and the Republicans are lying to the American people when they claim DOGE needs access to systems.  They certainly do not.  As an IT specialist I have NEVER once had access to production data in the pursuit of fraud or AML. 

 

I would like to know what software Musk uses to look for fraud and waste.  If it is AI, who trained it?  How was it trained?  How were weights assigned to cases of waste or fraud?  If their AI came up with the $100 million in condoms for Gaza, their AI is hallucinating. 

 

I suggest you find IT experts and get them to make a video you put on to social media which explains to Americans how real fraud and AML detection happens.  Thank you for your time.

Here is the reply from Senator Schiff.

Dear Mr. Breault: Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns with Elon Musk. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.     I am deeply alarmed that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who has been given broad access to the resources of the American people without election, vetting, or confirmation by anyone, has reportedly gained access to the Treasury Department's payments system. This access could potentially give him control of the funds Congress has appropriated for healthcare, for housing, for child care, for small businesses, and for students. Through his fealty to President Trump, Musk is gaining control of high-level, classified information that will advance his own business interests and that of his billionaire friends.      Additionally, Musk is attempting to eliminate the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and end its life-saving work. Pausing USAID's work, which includes providing health services, humanitarian relief, and anti-poverty initiatives globally, will cost untold lives around the world. Moreover, this move will devastate our standing around the globe and our longstanding alliances where we need them most. I am deeply concerned that in a global struggle for influence, Musk’s actions will empower China and other countries to step into the geopolitical power vacuum this could create. No President can eliminate USAID without an act of Congress, and I am committed to joining my Democratic colleagues to use every lever at our disposal to block this illegal takeover and shutdown of this government agency. If Trump and Musk can illegally shut down this agency and get away with it, they can illegally shut down anything.     Please know that, as President Trump and his allies continue to try to take away the rights and freedoms of the American people, I will stand up to him and defend our country and our Constitution in every way possible. And I am. Every single day of his Presidency, I will hold him and his administration accountable and be a constant check on any and every abuse of power.    Transparency has been a goal of mine throughout my time in Congress. You can find detailed information on every bill introduced in the Senate on Congress.gov, including the summary and full text of the legislation, which Senators have co-sponsored it, and the most recent action taken by Congress.  An ongoing job of a Senator is to help constituents solve problems with federal agencies, access services, and get their questions answered promptly. On my website, I offer a guide to the services my office can provide, as well as a contact form where you can share your priorities with me. You can also connect with me online via Facebook or Twitter, and you can always reach my office by phone at (202) 224-3841. Thank you again for your thoughts. I hope you will continue to share your views and ideas with me. Sincerely, Adam B. Schiff  UNITED STATES SENATOR