A whistleblower complaint from SSA chief data officer Charles Borges alleges that DOGE duplicated the NUMIDENT database into an unauthorized test cloud environment lacking independent security controls. The duplicated database contained all data submitted in Social Security card applications and was copied in June. Only two DOGE employees allegedly had administrator access to the duplicate instead of SSA Division of Infrastructure Services admins. Reports claim no verified audit or oversight mechanisms existed and no one outside DOGE had visibility into code run against the data. DOGE originated via executive order, was informally staffed, and faced complaints about bypassing protocols and oversight.
Borges alleges DOGE took the NUMIDENT database, which "contains all data submitted in an application for a United States Social Security card," and reproduced it in a test cloud environment that wasn't managed by the SSA and was "lacking independent security controls." The database was copied in June, according to the complaint, and the only people who had administrator access to the duplicate were two DOGE employees - not the Division of Infrastructure Services admins that the SSA requires to manage its digital services.
DOGE, which is not an official government agency approved by Congress, was established through an executive order from President Trump, and was initially led by Tesla impresario and centibillionaire Elon Musk before the two had a public falling out. Along the way, federal employees and investigators complained that the informal body, which was led and staffed in large part by young Musk acolytes with no government experience, moved aggressively and often without respect for established protocols, congressional oversight and, in some cases, the law.
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