Watchdog Sues to Expose What DOGE Did With Americans’ Social Security Data

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, American Oversight filed suit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) for failing to release records about how members of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) handled some of the most sensitive personal information the federal government holds on Americans. The suit follows a series of whistleblower disclosures and a court filing in which the government acknowledged that DOGE team members at SSA shared agency data in ways that may have violated agency policy and a federal court order.

“Americans hand over their most sensitive personal information to the federal government because they have to, and they have every right to expect that information will be protected,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “Instead, the Trump administration gave DOGE access to that information, and we’re now learning about serious failures to safeguard it. The people who stand to pay the price aren’t the officials who made these decisions. They’re working families, retirees, and everyday Americans who could face identity theft, financial fraud, or threats to the benefits they’ve earned. Enough is enough. The American people deserve to know who had their information, what was done with it, and whether it’s still at risk. We’re going to court to find out.”

In August 2025, SSA’s then–chief data officer, Charles Borges, filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that DOGE members had uploaded a copy of the agency’s Numident database — which contains records of every Social Security number ever issued, including names, addresses, and birth dates — to a cloud server without the independent security monitoring normally required under agency policy. Borges’ complaint cited an internal risk assessment that warned of “catastrophic impact” if the data were compromised, and included documents showing that DOGE member John Solly raised the idea about copying Numident data to the server. SSA said at the time that the data was stored in a secure environment “walled off from the internet.”

In January 2026, the government notified a federal court in Maryland that it had identified actions by SSA’s former DOGE team that were potentially outside SSA policy or noncompliant with the court’s order restricting access to sensitive SSA data. According to the filing, DOGE team members shared data through Cloudflare, a third-party service not approved for storing SSA data. SSA has not been able to determine exactly what data were shared or whether the data still exist on the server. The filing also disclosed that a DOGE team member emailed a file that SSA believes contained the names and addresses of approximately 1,000 people derived from SSA systems, and that a DOGE team member signed a “Voter Data Agreement” with a political advocacy group that — according to emails SSA reviewed — may have asked for help accessing SSA data to match state voter rolls.

Then in March 2026, the SSA’s inspector general reportedly investigated a separate whistleblower complaint alleging that a former DOGE software engineer told colleagues he possessed the Numident and the agency’s “Master Death File” — databases with records on more than 500 million living and dead Americans — and had at least one on a thumb drive. The complaint alleges that the engineer sought help moving the data to a personal computer so he could “sanitize” it for use at his new private-sector employer, and told a colleague he expected to receive a presidential pardon if his actions were deemed illegal. Media reports identified the engineer as Solly, who since October 2025 has worked for Leidos, a government contractor with SSA contracts potentially worth up to $1.5 billion.

American Oversight’s lawsuit concerns three Freedom of Information Act requests. The first, filed in October 2025, seeks emails from senior SSA officials and DOGE members — including Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Chief Information Officer Aram Moghaddassi, Michael Russo, Borges, Solly, and Edward Coristine — containing terms related to the Numident, cloud environments, risk assessments, and access to sensitive systems. Two requests filed in April 2026 seek emails and text messages from those officials — including Solly — mentioning thumb drives, personal devices, the Master Death File, “god-level” access, Leidos, and pardons. 

SSA has not produced any records in response to the requests. In response to the request for Solly’s communications, SSA refused to confirm or deny that the records exist, asserting that even acknowledging the individual’s identity would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy — despite Solly having been publicly identified in national news coverage. American Oversight appealed that decision in August, and SSA has yet to rule on the appeal.

This lawsuit builds on American Oversight’s ongoing investigation into DOGE’s activities at SSA, including a June 2025 lawsuit seeking records on DOGE’s access to Social Security and Treasury Department systems, filed after the Supreme Court allowed DOGE to access Americans’ sensitive Social Security data while legal challenges proceeded. More than 70 million Americans rely on SSA for benefits, and the public has a right to know who accessed their personal information, where it went, and what agency leaders knew.