The Fast-Approaching Digital Control Grid: A Checklist of Trump Administration Actions to Date
By Catherine Austin Fitts
Introduction
A digital control grid is an electronic network of digital telecommunication and information systems that allows individuals to be surveilled, tracked, and made subject to invasive controls applied to their financial transactions and resource use (such as electricity, food, water, transportation)—compromising, if not ending, all human rights and liberties. Control grids operate with significant data collection and AI to apply social credit systems that can be dictated on a highly centralized basis. A digital control grid ends financial freedom, replacing markets with technocracy—a system run by rules created and maintained centrally by “experts.”
Is the Trump Administration building a digital control grid? We provide the following checklist to assess the steps the Administration is (and is not) taking in a variety of areas to facilitate a rapid control grid build-out. We invite subscribers to post suggestions in the Comments section below.
Money
Summary: An all-digital currency and monetary system is essential to institute a digital control grid.
The GENIUS Act
There is support for legislation to create digital stablecoin infrastructure. Presumably, this can be used to create a programmable money system in both the U.S. and globally—in essence, a private CBDC.
White House AI & Crypto Czar
The White House created a position to coordinate policy on AI and crypto.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The new SEC Commissioner is a crypto lobbyist; all indications point to a reversal of policies related to crypto.
$21 Trillion Missing Money
There is $21T in undocumentable adjustments at the Department of Housing and Urban Development ($1T) and the Department of Defense ($20T) in the U.S. federal government as of fiscal 2015. To the best of our knowledge, the Administration has made no mention of any effort to identify where that money went and to get it back.
The Missing Money website
Debt-Based Currency
There has been no discussion of the artificial nature of the U.S. debt and the possibility of issuing currency directly from the U.S. Treasury without debt. With as much as 50% or more of monthly spending coming from debt borrowings, the U.S. government is deeply dependent on the New York Fed and Treasury borrowings through the 24 primary dealers.
The War for Bankocracy, a series by John Titus
Banking
The number of banks in America continues to fall.
We know that the creation of small banks is one of the fastest ways to create real economic growth without inflation.
More community banks would be especially helpful to rebuild domestic capacity in the face of new tariff policies. The Trump Administration has indicated its intention to reengineer the FDIC. However, we do not yet know of any effort to encourage more community banks or the creation of State Banks.
The Trump Administration Is Targeting the FDIC, Putting Americans’ Financial Wellbeing at Risk
Organizing a Sovereign State Bank with Professor Richard A. Werner
Executive Orders and Actions: Strengthening U.S. Leadership in Digital Financial Technology
While banning CBDC, on the one hand, the Administration is aggressively working toward stablecoin adoption.
Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology (White House, Jan. 23, 2025)
The War on Cash
Summary: An all-digital monetary system with complete central control requires putting an end to the circulation of cash.
Cancellation of Pennies
President Trump has directed the Treasury to stop minting new pennies.
Executive Orders and Actions: “Modernizing” Federal Bank Payments
This order requires all-digital payments—no more checks and money orders.
Modernizing Payments to and from America’s Bank Account (White House, Mar. 25, 2025)
Financial Disclosure
Summary: Secrecy in government finances, and missing money past and present, permit funding of the control grid and those who support it.
Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) Statement 56
There has been no attempt to rescind this administrative policy, which essentially has taken U.S. financial statements dark; it was instituted by the first Trump Administration and Congress in October 2018.
Financial Disclosure
There has been no effort to publish reliable financial statements or to move toward compliance with laws related to financial disclosure, nor has there been any discussion of the possibilities of providing easily accessible disclosure by place, such as disclosure of U.S. federal budgets and financials contiguous to Congressional districts.
Discussion of Community Wizard software in “Hamilton Securities Group,” Chapter XI in Dillon Read & Co. Inc. & the Aristocracy of Stock Profits
DOGE
As the DOGE team determines and implements large layoffs and changes in systems, there is a real question as to whether it is “whiting out” institutional memory and documentation. There appears to be no effort to find the $1T missing from HUD, even as half of HUD employees are scheduled to be laid off. There have also been reports of layoffs in FOIA offices, including at FDA and CDC. To what extent are the DOGE team’s “efficiency efforts” being used to “white out” records about criminality, such as missing money or the poisoning of the citizenry?
Epstein Files
While the Epstein files remain undisclosed, the White House and Cabinet appear to have multiple appointees who were intimate with Epstein, including the President and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who was Epstein’s next-door neighbor in Manhattan as chairman of primary dealer Cantor Fitzgerald.
Dual-Citizen Passports
There is no disclosure regarding how many Cabinet and subcabinet positions have more than one citizenship and passport—and no disclosure regarding the President, the First Lady, and their family—or about the financial privileges that such arrangements may provide.
White House Ethics
The White House Ethics officer was fired at the beginning of the Trump Administration, along with 18 Inspector Generals.
Digital IDs
Summary: A highly precise digital ID system is essential to operate a digital control grid. The U.S. has been trying to implement this type of digital ID since the immediate passage of the Patriot Act after 9/11, with the current drive to do so happening through the REAL ID system operated through the states.
REAL ID
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is aggressively promoting the REAL ID with a misleading campaign that is trying to persuade people that they will not be able to fly in the United States without a REAL ID. This is not correct.
Signs at airports and driver’s license bureaus inaccurately maintain that, starting May 7, 2025, an unconstitutional REAL ID in the works since 2005 is required to fly; however, the REAL ID Act only requires a federal ID (among other federal IDs, a passport qualifies). A number of states have mandated REAL ID driver’s licenses, and many others make acquiring a non-REAL ID difficult. REAL ID regulations allow federal agencies to require REAL ID for entry into federal buildings or take other agency-relevant actions involving REAL ID. Many expect that biometric features will be added to the REAL ID and that the REAL ID may be used to institute a social credit score or system to limit or condition receipt of federal benefits on REAL ID use.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Biometrics
TSA continues to aggressively promote biometrics with travelers who fly to the United States; many do not know they can opt out, and reports vary as to whether opting out is even still possible at some airports. TSA procedures are making it difficult to fly without entering biometric information.
Ground Travel Biometrics
A federal regulatory agency has implemented biometrics for commercial motor vehicle applications.
Financial Data and Payment Systems and AI
Summary: To build a digital control grid, digital IDs must link with programmable money and interoperable systems across multiple platforms (banks, credit cards, online payment systems), which can be integrated with social credit and surveillance systems. The data capacity required for an all-digital monetary system combined with programmable money and a social credit system is significant, as are the related energy demands.
Stargate LLC (Data Centers and AI)
The Stargate initiative involves the building out of data centers sufficient to support a complete control grid and all-digital monetary system.
Stargate LLC (Wikipedia)
The Stargate proposal for personalized mRNA “vaccines” for cancer (and everything else) indicates a plan to roll out the injection program sufficient to implement the Internet of Bodies and continue to lower life expectancy. Stargate funding also helps support the ongoing global rollout of “mega” vaccine factories. It is not clear how Musk’s desire through Neuralink to insert mesh networks inside human brains fits in, as it appears that injections can get the system most if not all of the way to where it wants to go—and it is much easier to market injections that are “good” for you.
DOGE
Based on detailed reporting by WIRED magazine, it appears that significant federal data are being privatized on the “just do it” method, presumably through Musk’s Xai and its partnership with Palantir. There is also a push for digitizing federal systems and records and updating systems. DOGE is focusing on agencies that handle high-quality payment data for most or all Americans, including Social Security, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Treasury. These are some of the agencies whose data would be most appropriate for implementing programmable money with a social credit system.
DOGE’s focus on Social Security and the IRS is important. In a recent review of American legal history from the 1871 “Act to Provide a Government for the District of Columbia” forward, Josh Stylman had some interesting comments on these two agencies:
“What can be verified in the historical record is that during Wilson’s administration, several mechanisms were indeed established that fundamentally altered the relationship between citizens and government—including the Federal Reserve System, income taxation, and later the Social Security system with its universal numerical identification. These systems, while presented as public benefits, effectively created trackable financial identities that constitutional scholars like Edwin Vieira Jr. have analyzed as potential instruments of financial monitoring and control. As Vieira argues, these mechanisms transformed the citizen-state relationship into one increasingly mediated through financial institutions rather than direct constitutional protections.”
The Administration has denied the rumored closing of Social Security satellite offices, but staff members say planned office closures, staffing and service cuts, and policy changes at the Social Security Administration have caused “complete, utter chaos” and are threatening to send the agency into a “death spiral.” Recorded phone messages to those who call for help encourage online problem-solving, where it is necessary to set up an ID-me account with an offshore entity.
DOGE leader Elon Musk initially announced that the DOGE goal was to cut $2 trillion in current expenditures from federal spending. DOGE later reduced that goal to $1 trillion. During the second week of April, Musk provided a Cabinet briefing indicating that DOGE expected to reduce 2025 expenditures by $150 billion, which is significantly less than expected increases in military and interest expenses. Was the privatization of data and systems the priority?
Musk has also donated Starlink Wi-Fi to the White House, which begs the question: Who has access to confidential White House data and conversations?
Corporate Contractors
The reduction in civil service employment is expected to increase control of information and payment systems by private parties and corporate contractors, resulting in increased control of fiscal policy by central bankers (as opposed to Congress). Reducing the membership and powers of public unions can also make implementation of unconstitutional policies much easier.
Cross-Border Payments
The Trump Administration is requiring disclosure on payments on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Executive Orders and Actions: America’s Bank Account; Information Silos; AI Leadership
Three executive orders centralize federal data and payment verification into Treasury; centralize federal databases and systems integration; and promote “decisive” action to retain global AI leadership.
Protecting America’s Bank Account against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (Mar. 25, 2025)
Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos (Mar. 20, 2025)
Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence (Jan. 23, 2025)
The Internet of Bodies
Summary: During the first Trump Administration, the president appointed a pharmaceutical executive who was an expert in brain-machine interface to run Operation Warp Speed. Around the same time, the chief science officer at Moderna described the mRNA technology in the Covid injections as the installation of an “operating system” in the human body. Our interest in the Internet of Bodies as a potentially integral part of the control grid and surveillance has grown ever since.
It should be noted that the Administration continues to promote the Covid mRNA injections.
Staying Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines (published as of Apr. 13, 2025, while dated Jan. 7, 2025)
At his confirmation hearing, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated,
“I’ll just say about Operation Warp Speed, it was an extraordinary accomplishment, [it] showed demonstration of leadership by President Trump.”
Telecommunication Systems
Summary: The push is on to get the entire population online so that they can interact in an all-digital system, accessible to surveillance, AI, and transaction control.
The U.S. Postal Service has filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission to raise prices by approximately 7.5%, effective July 13, 2025. If approved, the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp would increase from $0.73 to $0.78, further crippling efforts to communicate non-digitally.
Assets
Summary: Before the presidential election, now-Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick described U.S. land and mineral resources as a “balance sheet” worth an estimated $500T.
The Department of the Interior and HUD have announced a task force to explore housing development on Federal lands.
HUD Secretary Turner has experience with Opportunity Zones—place-based investment zones that shelter investors from capital gains taxes if they reinvest in these state-designated vehicles.
Executive Orders and Actions: Crypto Asset Forfeiture; Creation of Sovereign Wealth Fund
Asset Forfeiture Fund included in the push to increase federal crypto holdings. The announcement raised concerns about related insider trading.
Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Strategic Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile (Mar. 6, 2025)
A Plan for Establishing a United States Sovereign Wealth Fund (Feb. 3, 2025)
Energy
Summary: An all-digital control grid and AI use extraordinary amounts of energy. One article in Bloomberg predicted that Texas would need 30 new nuclear power plants to support data centers by 2030.
Energy Policy
President Trump’s “Drill, baby, drill” energy policy is focused on significantly increasing domestic energy resources.
Energy Demands of All-Digital Monetary System
Big Tech has been open about its desire for additional sources of energy.
Executive Orders and Actions: Unleashing Energy; Energy Emergency
Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential (Jan. 20, 2025)
Unleashing American Energy (Jan. 20, 2025)
Declaring a National Energy Emergency (Jan. 20, 2025)
Budget
Summary: Despite the early emphasis on cutting expenditures, the Administration is taking numerous steps to increase expenditures. It supported the Continuing Resolution, which extended the Biden spending plan.
The Tax Policy Institute estimates that the Trump tariffs will generate approximately $3.3T from 2026 to 2035, including an additional $190 billion in 2025. However, this will be more than offset by the Trump tax cuts:
“The Tax Policy Center estimates extending the TCJA [2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act] would add $4.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Interest on the additional debt would cost another $800 billion. Tax-free tips would cost at least $6.5 billion in 2025 alone, while exempting Social Security benefits from tax would reduce federal revenues by $1.5 trillion over a decade.
The Senate is considering a budget framework that would cut taxes by about $5.3 trillion. If not offset by tariffs or other tax increases, or by substantial cuts in federal spending, the Senate fiscal plan would increase the national debt to 134 percent of Gross Domestic Product in a decade.”
The Administration has hoped that the tariff policy would help lower interest rates, lowering the cost of refinancing maturing Treasury debt and issuing more debt as well. However, the initial response has been to raise the yields on Treasury bonds.
In the meantime, the Secretary of Defense has indicated that the military budget needs to be increased from its current level in the Continuing Resolution of $893 billion for 2025 to an annual $1 trillion.
Federal Reserve
Summary: Independent of the Administration, the Fed continues to roll out its FedNow “instant payments” system.
Other
Border Control
The military has been deployed on the southern border, with heightened controls on the northern border. What increased federal border and port control will be needed to enforce tariffs? There are increasing signs of tech being used to control the border.
Surveillance
Police departments in various cities have instituted “Ring” doorbell registries for local residents that allow the police to surveil “connected” neighborhoods. In the case of the Cincinnati program (powered by Axon Fusus), camera registration offers location details for investigators to request footage. Additionally, the Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) is offering residents and businesses the opportunity to upgrade their video systems to include live video feeds. Installation of a small CORE device enables sharing of live footage with CPD “during emergencies to improve police response times.” The live feed can be triggered using a smartphone app or manual button.
Election Fraud
The Administration is citing election fraud as an excuse to push for digital IDs. The proposed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act to require Americans seeking to register or re-register to vote to present a REAL ID-compliant ID proving U.S. citizenship. People whose federal ID names (e.g., on their passports) do not match their birth certificates would be required to provide proof of name change or a marriage certificate.
Organized Crime
Cybercrime, fraud, and scams continue to escalate to alarming levels. The Administration is discussing downsizing or shutting down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and disbanding the cybercrime task force at the SEC. Meanwhile, drug cartels continue to operate with impunity throughout the U.S.
Weather Warfare
The targeting of selected populations and related land grabs continue.
Geoengineering
The spraying of toxic materials, impacting all living things, includes Internet of Bodies nanoparticles.
Invisible Weaponry
Promotion of Gold Electronic Systems
Targeting Universities
Hate Crime Targeting and Enforcement
Trojan horse trump for the coming Technocracy
Do you have a similar critique of Mark Carney so Canadians can be better informed?