Social Security whistleblower who claims DOGE mishandled Americans' sensitive data resigns from post
WASHINGTON — A Social Security whistleblower whose complaint alleged that Department of Government Efficiency officials mishandled Americans' sensitive information says he's resigning because of actions taken against him since making the claim.
Charles Borges, the agency's chief data officer, alleged that more than 300 million Americans’ Social Security data was put at risk by DOGE officials who uploaded sensitive information to a cloud account not subject to oversight. His disclosure was submitted to the special counsel’s office on Tuesday.
In a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Borges said that since filing the complaint, the agency's actions make his duties “impossible to perform legally and ethically” and have caused him “physical, mental and emotional distress.”
“After reporting internally to management and externally to regulators, serious data and security and integrity concerns impacting our citizens’ most sensitive personal data, I have suffered exclusion, isolation, internal strife, and a culture of fear, creating a hostile work environment and making work conditions intolerable,” Borges added.
The Government Accountability Project, which is representing him in his whistleblower case, posted Borges' resignation letter on its website Friday evening. Borges declined to comment.
“He no longer felt that he could continue to work for the Social Security Administration in good conscience, given what he had witnessed,” his attorney Andrea Meza said in a statement. She added that her client “will continue to work with the proper oversight bodies and will refrain from making any further comments at this time.”
In his whistleblower's complaint, Borges said the potentially sensitive information put at risk by DOGE's actions includes health diagnoses, income, banking information, familial relationships and personal biographic data.
“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,” said the complaint.
Borges also said that his requests for visibility into the potential federal violations of the agency’s data handling “have been rebuffed or ignored by agency leadership, with some employees directed not to reply to my queries.”
DOGE’s access to Social Security data has been a point of controversy since Elon Musk’s group of young technologists first gained access to the agency, leading to internal clashes — including the resignation of an acting SSA administrator in February.
For months, DOGE had sought access to records to search for evidence of widespread fraud in payments to millions of retirees and disabled people. DOGE leaders wanted to build a single centralized database despite concerns from government workers, The Post previously reported. DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency.
Borges said earlier this week that DOGE members had gained access to some databases containing sensitive data in March before a court order blocking their access went into effect. Although access was revoked after the court order, Borges said he later learned that DOGE representatives immediately requested access to data, which they were given.
After a Supreme Court decision in June cleared the way for DOGE to gain access to the data amid ongoing litigation, DOGE created a copy of the agency’s most critical database of millions of Americans’ personal information to put in the digital cloud within the agency’s Amazon Web Services system.
Borges had served as the Social Security Administration's chief data officer since January.
Borges served for over two decades in the U.S. Navy and worked in the General Services Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In his role at the Social Security Administration, he oversaw data access. Yet, he said he learned about the data transfer after the fact from workers in the agency reporting to him.
Neither the agency nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment Friday.
President Donald Trump’s DOGE has faced scrutiny as it received unprecedented access from the Republican administration to troves of personal data across the government.
Labor and retiree groups sued SSA earlier this year for allowing DOGE to access Americans’ sensitive agency data, though a divided appeals panel decided this month that DOGE could access the information.
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• The Washington Post contributed.