Cybersecurity Policy Report, Top Oversight Democrat Seeks IG Probe of Social Security Whistleblower’s Cyber Warnings, (Sep 24, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Social Security Administration
A whistleblower’s disclosure that the White House Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) copied Social Security Administration (SSA) data into an unapproved database should be investigated by the SSA inspector general, according to Rep. Robert Garcia (D., Calif.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Charles Borges, SSA’s former chief data officer, disclosed last month that DOGE personnel created a cloud-based copy of SSA’s Numerical Identification System (NUMIDENT) database, which contains personal information about anyone who ever applied for a Social Security number (CPR, Aug. 26).
“A senior and highly credible whistleblower has come forward with an alarming report that members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), while embedded at the Social Security Administration (SSA), copied this entire database to an unsecure cloud server, evading security and oversight measures required by law,” Rep. Garcia said in a letter sent yesterday to Michelle Anderson, SSA’s acting inspector general.
“In his complaint, the whistleblower, who until recently served as SSA’s Chief Data Officer (CDO), lays out how individuals working for DOGE showed repeated disregard for responsible cybersecurity practices and the rule of law at SSA, pressuring career employees to provide access to SSA data even after a federal judge ordered that DOGE representatives lose access to this information,” Rep. Garcia noted.
“DOGE representatives allegedly went on to expose every American’s Social Security data in a cloud environment that lacked the necessary cybersecurity protections and auditable access records needed to determine who had accessed or edited this sensitive data,” he said.
“SSA’s chief information officer, Aram Moghaddassi, as well as a DOGE-aligned special advisor, Michael Russo, allegedly approved the DOGE team members’ high-risk requests over the objections of career civil servants and in potential violation of federal law, including the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), the Privacy Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” he said.
“The severity of these allegations, which threaten the American people’s privacy, financial security, and access to vital benefits, warrants your immediate investigation,” he added.
Rep. Garcia asked Ms. Anderson to provide a briefing by Oct. 6 and investigate, among other things, “attempts by individuals either previously or currently associated with DOGE to access SSA Numerical Identification System (NUMIDENT) data” and whether DOGE personnel “circumvented or ignored judicial rulings regarding access to SSA data.”
SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano recently disputed the whistleblower’s account. In a letter to Sen. Mike Crapo (R., Idaho), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Bisignano reported that “neither the Numident database nor any of its data has been accessed, leaked, hacked, or shared in any unauthorized fashion” (CPR, Sept. 18).
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