In recent weeks, the Department of Government Efficiency team has been making claims of “discovering” information about federal programs that was presumed hidden.

“We had no idea we were going to find this much,” President Trump said of DOGE’s work so far.

For the record: Federal program data is surprisingly accessible. For the last three years, I've worked closely with federal data systems. Anyone with an Internet connection can access user-friendly public data portals, like the Federal Program Inventory and USAspending.gov, that show the same information that DOGE is now posting on its new website.

The notion that one needs to access sensitive agency data to uncover federal program spending details is simply not true. These spending portals contain detailed information, like federal program goals, descriptions, funding streams and even recipient organizational names.

Let’s say you wanted to know how much was spent last year on food and nutrition programs in the Department of Agriculture. Just visit the Federal Program Inventory and you’ll find over 50 programs listed. If you wanted to dig deeper and........

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