The DOGE employee stole Social Security data and put it on a thumb drive, the report says

A former employee at Elon Musk’s Government Efficiency Administration reportedly stole Americans’ personal data from the U.S. Social Security Administration and stored it on a thumb drive, according to a whistleblower complaint published by The Washington Post.

The former DOGE software engineer told co-workers at his new job that he “owned two highly restricted databases of American citizen information” and was planning to use the information at his new company, according to the report, which added that the Social Security Administration’s inspector general is investigating the whistleblower complaint.

The former DOGE employee, who was not named by The Washington Post, worked at the Social Security Administration last year. In October, he left to work for a government contractor, where he told colleagues he had acquired two databases, called “Numident” and “Master Death File,” according to The Post, which reported that the databases could include records “for more than 500 million living and deceased Americans, including Social Security numbers, places and dates of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents’ names.”

The man also reportedly claimed that he previously had unrestricted “God-level” access to SSA systems.

A spokesman for the Social Security Administration, which remains under DOGE’s control, denied that a former employee had stolen data on American citizens. The Washington Post “craves clicks and is eager to spread fake news to scare seniors,” the spokesperson said. Office of Inspector General; It is independent of the Trump administration and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is the latest case of a suspected breach of Americans’ personal data linked to DOGE and its incursion into the Social Security Administration. In January, two DOGE members were suspected of accessing and sharing Social Security numbers that were restricted to them as part of an effort to help an advocacy group aimed at “overturning election results in certain states,” according to a lawsuit.

Another whistleblower inside the agency said last year that DOGE members were putting Americans at risk by uploading hundreds of millions of Social Security records to a vulnerable cloud server. Also last year, a judge blocked DOGE from accessing SSA systems, accusing the Musk-led agency of being “essentially engaged in a fishing expedition” in search of fraud.

Several DOGE members were confirmed at the Social Security Administration after Trump took office last year. According to The Washington Post, at least a dozen DOGE employees, mostly technical or engineering staff, worked at the agency, although the rest of the employees were not informed of their actual roles and activities.