Former DOGE engineer allegedly stole 500 million Americans’ data – his reason for needing it is more alarming than the theft itself

The Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog is investigating allegations that a former DOGE engineer may have taken highly sensitive data belonging to more than 500 million Americans. The records include Social Security numbers, dates and places of birth, citizenship status, race, ethnicity, and parents’ names. 

The complaint alleges this engineer, who worked at the SSA before moving to a government contractor in October, told co-workers he had these restricted databases, with at least one stored on a thumb drive.

According to The Washington Post, he allegedly sought help transferring the data to his personal computer, aiming to “sanitize” it before using it at his new company. He reportedly told a colleague, who refused to help due to legal concerns, that he expected a “presidential pardon” if his actions were found to be illegal. 

The DOGE data access scandal goes far beyond one engineer’s alleged actions

The complaint also claims he told colleagues he had kept his agency computer and credentials, which he said gave him “God-level” security access to the SSA’s systems. The SSA’s inspector general’s office is investigating and has alerted members of Congress, while also sharing the disclosure with the Government Accountability Office, which is already auditing DOGE’s data access. 

The engineer’s lawyer denies all alleged wrongdoing, and both the SSA and the company involved said their internal investigations found no evidence to confirm the claims. This situation sits within a much larger pattern of data concerns surrounding DOGE’s rapid entry into federal agencies. 

President Trump gave Elon Musk authority to lead a cost-cutting initiative, which involved DOGE engineers being deployed across agencies and accessing heavily restricted databases. Experts have also raised separate concerns about Social Security funds running out sooner than expected, adding to the growing pressure on the agency.

DOGE had around a dozen workers embedded at SSA headquarters from February 2025, tasked with finding fraud. Charles Borges, the SSA’s former chief data officer, separately alleged that DOGE members improperly uploaded copies of Americans’ Social Security data to a digital cloud and bypassed safeguards.

The Trump administration also acknowledged that DOGE staffers were responsible for other data breaches, including sharing data through an unapproved third-party service. These controversies have contributed to over 20 DOGE staffers choosing to resign from the initiative.

Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, stated, “Not only has an ex-DOGE bro been accused of running around with the Social Security information of every American on a flash drive, he also may have the ability to edit and manipulate data at the Social Security Administration at will.” He called it “dangerous and outrageous.”

Leland Dudek, who was the acting SSA commissioner at the start of DOGE’s work, said that “sharing Numident data with unauthorized third parties, whether via the cloud or a personal thumb drive, violates the law.”

The complaint does not allege the engineer successfully uploaded the data to his new company’s systems, but that does not mean the data is safe. Borges summed it up plainly: “This is absolutely the worst-case scenario. There could be one or a million copies of it, and we will never know now.” The GAO’s review of DOGE’s data access is ongoing, with no timeline yet for a final report.