Elon Musk's DOGE uncovers mysterious mine with '22,000 government documents' monitored by 24/7 surveillance
Topics: Elon Musk, US News, Politics, World News
Lucy Devine
Featured Image Credit: DOGE
Topics: Elon Musk, US News, Politics, World News
A limestone mine in Pennsylvania, which houses thousands of cabinets and millions of federal retirement papers, has caught the attention of Elon Musk.
Musk, who heads up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spoke about the mine last month, describing it as a 'time warp'.
“There’s a limestone mine where we store all the retirement paperwork...This mine looks like something out of the ’50s, because it was started in 1955, so it looks like it’s, like, a time warp,” he said during an appearance at the Oval Office in February.
Inside the mine, there's said to be 22,000 cabinets and 400 million sheets of paper, as well as 700 workers processing up to 10,000 retirement applications a month.
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After posting photos of the mine on social media, Musk said: “Because all that retirement paperwork is manual on paper, it’s manually calculated.
“They’re written down on a piece of paper, then it goes down a mine and, like, ‘What do you mean a mine?’ Like, yeah, there’s a limestone mine. We store all the retirement paperwork. And you look at a picture, we will post some pictures afterward.
“We were told the most number of people that could retire possibly in a month is 10,000 because all the retirement paperwork is written down on a piece of paper, then it goes down a mine.
“Instead of working in a mine shaft and carrying manila envelopes to boxes in a mine shaft, you could do practically anything else, and you would add to the goods and services of the United States in a more useful way.”
Musk added: “The elevator breaks down sometimes, and nobody can retire.
"Doesn't that sound crazy?”
Federal employee retirements are processed using paper, by hand, in an old limestone mine in Pennsylvania. 700+ mine workers operate 230 feet underground to process ~10,000 applications per month, which are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes. The retirement process… pic.twitter.com/dXCTgpAWLs
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 11, 2025
The mine is run by a company called Iron Mountain, whose shares were reportedly impacted following Musk's comments.
However, CEO Bill Meaney said that he sees it as a 'growth opportunity' adding: “We see this as a continued opportunity for the company.”
The mine - which is leased to the government by Iron Mountain - is thought to be secure, thanks to its 24/7 security, surveillance cameras, armed checkpoints and metal detectors.
It's also made of limestone, which is fire resistant, meanwhile temperature fluctuations underground are rare and expensive cooling systems are not required.
On the subject of retirement, Musk also said that DOGE wouldn't be cutting Social Security benefits.
“No, in fact, what we're doing will help with their benefits,” he recently told Fox News.
“Legitimate people, as a result of the work of DOGE, will receive more Social Security, not less.
“Want to emphasize that. As a result of the work of DOGE, legitimate recipients of Social Security will receive more money not less money.
“And let the record show that I said this and it will be proven out to be true. Let's check back on this in the future.”