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Allegations and probe opened
A whistleblower complaint has prompted the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General to open a probe after allegations that a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) removed highly sensitive Social Security data and stored at least one dataset on a thumb drive.
“A former employee of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is accused of stealing personal data of over 500 million Americans from the U.S. Social Security Administration and storing it on a thumb drive.”
Multiple outlets report that the former DOGE staffer allegedly told colleagues he possessed two tightly restricted SSA databases — the Numident and the Master Death File — and the complaint triggered the inspector general’s review and congressional attention.
Datasets and access claims
Reports identify the two datasets as SSA’s Numident and the Death Master File and say the records could span hundreds of millions of living and deceased Americans; the whistleblower complaint also includes an allegation that the engineer previously had unrestricted “God-level” access to SSA systems.
At the same time, at least one reporting thread stresses uncertainty about whether any data was successfully moved to the private employer: the complaint "does not allege that the engineer was successful in uploading the data to the company's system," and one source says the former employee returned his government laptop and lost system access when he left SSA.
Agency denial and Congress
The SSA has publicly disputed the allegation while the OIG investigates, and congressional Democrats are pressing for fuller oversight and briefings.
“A spokesperson for the Social Security Administration, which is still under control by DOGE, denied that a former employee stole data on U.S. citizens. The spokesperson said the Washington Post was “desperate for clicks and eager to publish fake news to scare seniors.””
A Social Security spokesperson pushed back against the reporting, and House Oversight Democrats — led by Ranking Member Robert Garcia — have demanded SSA OIG briefings, transcribed interviews with former DOGE employees, and a comprehensive review of DOGE access to Americans’ data.
Pattern and prior incidents
Reporting frames the episode as part of a wider pattern of controversies tied to DOGE’s work inside SSA: prior whistleblower claims accused DOGE personnel of uploading large troves of SSA data to vulnerable cloud storage, court filings and DOJ materials tied DOGE staff to an advocacy group seeking voter-roll matches, and at least one judge previously limited DOGE’s access to SSA systems.
Advocates and former agency officials described those earlier incidents as evidence of governance gaps and urged aggressive accountability if the new allegations are substantiated.
Risks and next steps
Observers and security specialists stress both immediate investigative steps and the concrete risks to millions of Americans if the allegations are confirmed: forensic review of access logs and removable-media usage, suspension of implicated credentials, and notifications to potentially affected individuals are standard responses
“The SSA Office of Inspector General’s probe will likely examine access logs, removable media registries, and any anomalous data pulls or account escalations tied to the engineer.”
while the exposed data could amplify identity theft, tax refund fraud, and synthetic-identity schemes.
Civil-society groups and lawmakers are demanding transparency, with advocates saying Americans “deserve timely, honest answers” and oversight committees pressing for briefings and interviews.