A whistleblower complaint filed Tuesday alleges that employees with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Social Security Administration (SSA) put sensitive records of more than 300 million Americans at risk. Charles Borges, SSA’s chief data officer, said in his disclosure that a copy of the agency’s database was made in a cloud environment with no clear security oversight or tracking.
The copied database reportedly contained highly sensitive details including Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, citizenship status, parents’ names, and other personal identifiers. Borges warned that if compromised, the database could expose Americans to identity theft and disrupt access to key government programs such as healthcare and food benefits.
Concerns About National Security and Fraud
The complaint, submitted by the Government Accountability Project to the Office of Special Counsel and congressional committees, described “a disturbing pattern of questionable and risky security access and administrative misconduct.” Borges said he raised these concerns with the agency’s chief information officer but has not seen corrective action.
The filing comes amid heightened scrutiny of DOGE’s role in federal agencies. Under President Donald Trump, Elon Musk’s DOGE team was embedded at the SSA and other agencies to modernize technology and investigate fraud. Critics have long questioned the necessity of DOGE’s access to vast personal datasets.
Legal Challenges and Supreme Court Ruling
Earlier this year, labor and advocacy groups attempted to block DOGE from accessing Social Security records, citing risks to privacy. However, in June, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing DOGE to review the data. Musk had argued that the SSA’s files contained outdated records, including deceased individuals listed as living beneficiaries, which highlighted potential fraud.
SSA said it takes all whistleblower complaints seriously and that its personal data remains stored in secure, closed environments. “The data referenced in the complaint is stored in a long-standing environment used by SSA and walled off from the internet,” SSA spokesperson Nick Perrine said. He added that senior officials maintain administrative access under the agency’s Information Security team and that no compromise has been detected.
What The Author Thinks
While the SSA insists that the copied data is secure, the very idea of creating duplicate databases with unclear oversight is alarming. Even if no breach has occurred yet, the risk is enormous given the scale of information involved. Identity theft is already rampant, and adding a vulnerable copy of nearly every American’s Social Security record is like painting a target for hackers. Stronger accountability, transparency, and tighter access controls are essential if the government expects people to trust its stewardship of such critical data.
Featured image credit: frankieleon via Flickr
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