Overview
- The Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General told congressional committees on March 6 that it opened an investigative review into an anonymous whistleblower complaint.
- The complaint alleges a former DOGE software engineer said he possessed the SSA’s restricted Numident and Master Death File and kept at least one on a thumb drive for use at a private contractor.
- The whistleblower says the engineer described moving data to a personal computer to “sanitize” it for company systems and boasted of retaining “God-level” access and expecting a presidential pardon if his actions were illegal.
- The SSA, the named former employee, and his current employer deny the allegations, and initial checks by the agency and the company did not find evidence to confirm the claims.
- The Government Accountability Office confirmed a review of DOGE’s access to SSA data, while Democratic lawmakers sought briefings and interviews as prior DOGE-related data handling concerns resurfaced.