IRS staff confront unauthorized access demands and internal power struggles
An unannounced visitor named Gavin Kliger demanded IRS system access, prompting a cascade of internal emails, legal disputes and resignations.
In late February 2025 a blanket email instructed every federal worker to report weekly tasks, sparking concern at the IRS where chief privacy officer Kathleen Walters manages a 650-person privacy team. Around the same time, a young man named Gavin Kliger entered the IRS lobby unannounced, claiming to be a new political appointee and demanding immediate access to laptops, phones and taxpayer databases. Human-capital director Traci DiMartini arranged a meeting, explaining that Kliger needed to pass an audit and complete ethics briefings before any system entry.
Kliger later pushed for the agency to provide the Department of Homeland Security with addresses of undocumented taxpayers, a move Walters identified as unlawful. The internal clash resulted in Walters resigning and acting commissioner Melanie Krause stepping down, while ICE operations in Austin targeted undocumented residents whose locations appeared to have been obtained from IRS data.
Why it matters
It shows how unauthorized access attempts can jeopardize sensitive taxpayer information and trigger legal and operational crises within a major government agency.
How the sides frame it
LOW AGREEMENTLeft-leaning coverage focuses on an internal IRS power struggle and alleged unlawful access requests, while right-leaning coverage highlights a former insider’s book that challenges mainstream narratives about a different agency and praises civil servants.
LEFT
Frames the IRS episode as a clash over unauthorized access demands, unlawful actions, and resulting resignation
RIGHT
Frames the insider’s book as a corrective to mainstream stories, praising bureaucracy’s dedication while criticizing inefficiencies
The left emphasises
- unauthorized access demands and illegal request for undocumented taxpayers’ addresses
- internal power struggle leading to the privacy chief’s resignation
- concern over a blanket email demanding weekly task reports
The right emphasises
- the book disputes popular media stories
- praise for career civil servants and criticism of bureaucracy, obsolete tech, weak oversight
- call for bipartisan efforts to address the nation’s debt
In this story
