The “Mega API” may be able to export all IRS data to a selection system that contains private entities. If the person has access to other interoperable data sets in separate government agencies, they can compare them with IRS data for their own purposes.
“It takes years to outline this data and understand it,” an IRS source tells Wired. “These people don’t have experience not only with the government, but with the IRS, taxes, etc., so even thinking through data takes a long time.” (“There’s a lot I don’t know what I’m learning right now,” Corcos tells Ingraham in an interview with Fox.
All of these systems go through a boring approval process to ensure the security of your taxpayer data. Anything that can replace them still needs to be properly examined, sources tell Wired.
“It’s basically an open door controlled by masks for the most sensitive information of all Americans, and there are usually no rules to protect that data,” IRS workers claim wired.
Data integration efforts are consistent with President Donald Trump Presidential Order Starting March 20th, the agency has instructed its institution to eliminate information silos. Although orders are said to be aimed at combating fraud and waste, previously reported Wired could also pose a threat to privacy by integrating personal data housed in different systems into a central repository.
In a statement provided to Wired on Saturday, a Treasury spokesman said the department “is pleased to have brought together a team of long-time IRS engineers identified as the most talented engineers. Through this coalition, we will streamline the IRS system to create the most efficient services for American taxpayers. This new leadership and direction will maximize its capabilities and serve as a multiplier of the technology-enabled power that the IRS has been needing for decades.”
Palantir, Sam Corcos, and Gavin Kliger did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In February, a memo was drafted to provide Kliger with access to IRS personal taxpayer data. Washington Post reported. Kliger was ultimately provided read-only access to anonymized tax data, similar to what scholars use in their research. A few weeks later, Corcos arrived and requested detailed taxpayer and vendor information as a way to combat fraud. According to the post.
“The IRS has quite a bit of legacy infrastructure. It’s actually very similar to what banks use. It’s an old mainframe running COBOL and assembly, and the challenges move it to a modern system?” Corcos told Ingraham in an interview with the same Fox News. Corcos said he plans to continue working with the IRS for a total of six months.
Doge has already cut down and burn modernization projects at other agencies, replacing them with smaller teams and more stringent timelines. At the Social Security Agency, Doge representatives plan that Doge representatives will transfer all data from legacy programming languages like COBOL and Java, reported last week by Wired.
