‘I am honored to serve our country,’ Cloud Software Group CEO Tom Krause said.
Tom Krause will continue to hold the top job at Citrix parent Cloud Software Group while working with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Krause told CSG employees in an email viewed by CRN that he is advising the Treasury as a “special government employee,” which is “in addition to my duties as CEO of Cloud Software Group.” Some news reports Thursday identifying Krause’s role with the government referred to him as the “former CEO” of CSG.
“I am honored to serve our country,” Krause said in the email, dated for Wednesday. “Let me be clear – as CEO of Cloud Software Group, I am committed to our company and you, our employees. Cloud’s growth over the years is a testament to your strong execution, focus on innovation and our customers. I believe in Cloud, and am excited about all we will continue to do together.”
The Treasury Department’s website defines a “special government employee” as a department officer or employee who performs temporary duties with or without compensation for at most 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days. These employees can work full-time or intermittently.
[RELATED: Citrix Parent CSG CEO Helping Elon Musk’s DOGE At Treasury Department]
CSG CEO Krause
On Tuesday, a letter from the Treasury to members of Congress called Krause “an expert/consultant” working with Treasury staff members with “read-only access to the coded data of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems” for an “operational efficiency assessment.”
The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service operates vital payment systems for the federal government.
Questions and concerns have emerged over the level of data access in various government agencies by the DOGE group formed by President Donald Trump and led by billionaire Musk, whose job titles include founder of xAI, owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Krause’s name emerged in earlier news reports as someone affiliated with Musk’s DOGE work within the Treasury.
The Treasury letter about Krause’s work said that his level of data access is similar “to individuals reviewing Treasury systems, such as auditors, and that follows practices associated with protecting the integrity of the systems and business processes.”
The letter said that Krause’s work is done “in coordination with veteran career Treasury officials, and all operational processes continue to be conducted only by career Treasury staff in accordance with all standard security, safety, and privacy standards.”
The letter highlights Krause’s business experience as part of his selection for the role. Before becoming CSG CEO, he worked at Broadcom for about seven years, leaving in 2022 as president of the Broadcom Software Group, according to his LinkedIn account. He served as CFO of Broadcom for about four years as well.
The New York Times Thursday reported that the Treasury Department’s chief of staff, Dan Katz, sought to give Krause access to a payment system to freeze payments by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The legal authority of freezing those payments was questioned by David Lebryk before he resigned as acting U.S. treasury secretary.
