Records of over 300 million Americans were put at risk after officials at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) created a copy of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) database on a vulnerable cloud server with no security oversight. Charles Borges, the SSA’s chief data officer, whistleblows potential threat to data security in a complaint filed through the Government Accountability Project, warning that the copied database contained highly sensitive personal information — including Social Security numbers, addresses, citizenship status, parents’ names, health diagnoses, banking records and income details.“Should bad actors gain access to this cloud environment, Americans may be susceptible to widespread identity theft, may lose vital healthcare and food benefits, and the government may be responsible for re-issuing every American a new Social Security Number at great cost,” Borges warned in the complaint. The disclosure was sent to the Office of Special Counsel and congressional committees, urging lawmakers to launch oversight action.The Social Security Administration on Tuesday said it reviews all whistleblower complaints seriously, stressing that personal data is stored in secure systems with strong safeguards. “The data referenced in the complaint is stored in a long-standing environment used by SSA and walled off from the internet,” Nick Perrine, an agency spokesperson, said in a statement. The complaint is the latest in a series of challenges to DOGE, created under President Donald Trump. In June, the Supreme Court halted a lower court ruling that had barred DOGE from accessing Social Security Administration records, sending the case back to a federal appeals court for review. The lawsuit, brought by two labor unions and an advocacy group, challenged DOGE’s unprecedented access to citizens’ personal data, though a divided appeals court recently upheld the agency’s decision.Borges, who took over as SSA’s chief data officer in January 2025, is a Navy veteran and has earlier served at the General Services Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Centers for Disease Control.
