Musk's DOGE improperly accessed Social Security data: court filing
Lawmakers calling for prosecution of those responsible
• New court filing reveals unauthorized data-sharing deal with political advocacy group
• SSA says employees used unapproved servers and shared sensitive personal information
• Lawmakers call for prosecutions after months of agency denials
After months of dismissals and denials, the Trump administration has acknowledged in a federal court filing that employees working under Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative improperly accessed and shared sensitive Social Security data belonging to Americans.
The Justice Department disclosure, filed Friday in ongoing litigation, reveals that a member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) secretly executed a data-sharing agreement with an unnamed political advocacy group. The group’s stated mission, according to the filing, was to uncover voter fraud and challenge election results in key states, according to a report in the Guardian.
SSA says it never approved the secret agreement
The Social Security Administration (SSA) told the court it had no knowledge of the March agreement and discovered it only during an unrelated internal review in November. The agency referred two possible violations of the Hatch Act—which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity—to the Office of Special Counsel.
“Based on its review of records obtained during or after October 2025,” the filing states, “SSA identified communications, use of data, and other actions by the then-SSA DOGE Team that were potentially outside of SSA policy and/or noncompliant with the District Court’s March 20, 2025, temporary restraining order.”
Team used unapproved servers to share sensitive files
Investigators disclosed that DOGE staff shared data through Cloudflare, an outside server not authorized for federal use. The SSA said it could not determine what information was sent or whether the data remains stored on the server.
In one case, a DOGE staffer transmitted an encrypted, password-protected file to Steve Davis, described iin the filing as a senior adviser to the operation. The agency believes the file contained names and addresses of roughly 1,000 individuals pulled from Social Security systems, though officials have been unable to access the file to confirm its contents.
Reversal follows earlier assurances data was safe
The revelations contradict months of assurances from Social Security officials. In August, after former chief data officer Charles Borges warned Congress that DOGE was storing Americans’ data in an unsafe environment, SSA spokesperson Nick Perrine insisted the agency was “not aware of any compromise to this environment.”
The disclosures come in response to a February lawsuit brought by unions and an advocacy group seeking to prevent Doge from accessing Social Security data. A federal judge temporarily blocked that access in March, writing that DOGE “essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion.” The Supreme Court later lifted the restriction.
Lawmakers call for criminal prosecutions
Following the latest filing, Democratic Representatives John Larson of Connecticut and Richard Neal of Massachusetts—ranking members on the House Social Security and Ways and Means committees—called for criminal charges.
“The DOGE appointees engaged in this scheme…must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for these abhorrent violations of the public trust,” they said in a joint statement, adding that the findings “prove the brave whistleblower who came forward in August was right.”
Additional unauthorized searches and systems access uncovered
According to the filing, one DOGE team member searched personally identifiable information on the morning of March 24, hours after the agency believed it had revoked all such access to comply with the court’s temporary restraining order. The last search occurred around 9:30 a.m.; full access was terminated by noon.
The filing also revealed that DOGE personnel had gained access to systems beyond what SSA previously reported, including employee records, personnel access data and shared workspaces capable of facilitating further information exchanges.
Culture of monitoring and suspicion detailed
The disclosures follow earlier reporting that DOGE operatives across multiple agencies secretly recorded meetings, monitored computer activity and used AI tools to scan for signs of disloyalty. One Housing and Urban Development employee described the environment at the time as “being in a horror film where you know something out there wants to kill you but you never know when or how or who it is.”
Despite its expansive reach and Musk’s early claims of widespread Social Security fraud, DOGE ultimately failed to identify any significant waste, fraud or abuse within the agency’s retirement and disability programs, the filing notes.