The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, is planning a hackathon at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to develop a 'mega API' that would facilitate easier access to U.S. taxpayer data. The initiative aims to consolidate IRS data into a single cloud-hosted platform, which would serve as a new 'read center' for the agency's data. DOGE operatives, including Sam Corcos and Gavin Kliger, are orchestrating the event. Corcos, a special adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, has expressed intentions to pause all ongoing IRS engineering work and cancel modernization efforts. The hackathon is set to involve dozens of IRS engineers and potentially partner with Palantir Technologies Inc., a company known for its data analytics and surveillance software. The proposed API project, initially expected to take a year, has been accelerated to a 30-day timeline, raising concerns among IRS employees about the feasibility and potential risks to the agency's systems. Critics argue that such a rapid implementation could cripple the IRS and endanger the upcoming filing season. In addition to the IRS hackathon, DOGE has been reported to use artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor communications within at least one federal agency for anti-Trump sentiment. This surveillance, which reportedly uses the encrypted messaging app Signal, has raised concerns about transparency and the potential misuse of gathered information by the Trump administration or Musk.