Security guru Bruce Schneier played the skunk at the garden party in a Thursday federal hearing on AI's use in the government, focusing on the risks many are ignoring.

"The other speakers mostly talked about how cool AI was – and sometimes about how cool their own company was – but I was asked by the Democrats to specifically talk about DOGE and the risks of exfiltrating our data from government agencies and feeding it into AIs," Schneier explained in a blog post.

DOGE stands for the Department of Government Efficiency. It's a White House initiative, run until recently by centi-billionaire Elon Musk, that has been rifling through government databases and ordering layoffs at various government agencies in the name of cost savings and efficiency. Its staff cuts have been so extensive that the Trump administration reportedly is now scrambling to rehire.

The hearing, titled "The Federal Government in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," was held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC), Chair of the Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee, opened the hearing by focusing on AI's potential as a productivity tool – all the more necessary amid DOGE's efforts to reduce the federal workforce.