The USAID systems the DOGE team tried to access included personnel files, three sources familiar with the events told NBC News.

Young staffers from Musk’s government-efficiency initiative gained access to sensitive information to cap a weeklong effort that puts the aid agency’s fate in question.

Elon Musk called USAID a criminal organization that should “die.” Proponents say it’s a key arm of U.S. influence that, if destroyed, “cannot be easily rebuilt.”