The Washington Post has published a report detailing a whistleblower complaint alleging that a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee stole two complete databases from the U.S. Social Security Administration while employed as a DOGE software engineer.
The databases stolen include the “’Numident’ and the ‘Master Death File,’ which could cover records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers and birth data.”
First of all, how did a software engineer even have access to these databases that contain highly sensitive data, and then have the ability to download massive amounts of data on 500 million individuals to a thumb drive? My head is exploding.
Second, the whistleblower alleges that the software engineer left DOGE in October 2025 to start a new job at a government contractor, “where he told colleagues he ‘possessed two tightly restricted databases of U.S. citizens’ information’ and planned to share that information with his new employer.” If the software engineer did so, not only are both against the law, but are separate unauthorized disclosures that may require notification to every person whose data is contained on those databases. My head is imploding now too.
The Social Security Administration inspector general is allegedly investigating the whistleblower’s complaint, but the allegations are extremely alarming, and an investigation is not sufficient. Who knows how long it will take for the investigation to conclude? Meanwhile, if true, potentially all of our Social Security data on a thumb drive is in the hands of a software engineer, who clearly does not understand the importance and consequences of their actions, and potentially the individual’s new employer. Laws have been passed to protect our Social Security information for a reason. We expect it to be protected and accessed, used, and disclosed in accordance with the law. If true, this situation underscores how important those laws are, and how detrimental it is when they are broken with impunity.
