One of them signed an agreement with the group that could ostensibly clear the way to match Social Security data with state voter rolls.
Senior DOJ official Elizabeth Shapiro reports that the SSA referred the two DOGE staffers for possibly violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in any activity directed toward the success or failure of a political party, candidate or group (3).
Shapiro said that emails between the two DOGE staffers and the advocacy group “suggest that DOGE Team members could have been asked to assist the advocacy group by accessing SSA data to match to the voter rolls,” although it is not yet known whether that happened.
The court filing reveals that DOGE employees shared links on a third-party server operated by Cloudflare, a private corporation that is not authorized to store SSA data.
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are demanding answers from the SSA about its plan to protect private data and prevent a similar incident in the future (4).
Here’s what you need to know.
Why this is a big deal and what it means for you
The DOGE staffers’ apparent violation of private data has two serious implications for all citizens.
Erosion of trust in public institutions
The misuse of sensitive data, especially for a politically charged issue, undermines the trust that ordinary citizens have that the government will tightly control their information and act in good faith.
Personal privacy risk and potential identity theft
Even if your full profile was not part of a potential DOGE breach, the existence of unsecured copies of sensitive data on a third-party server should raise concerns for all taxpayers.
Data stored by the SSA is highly valuable and often the target for identity thieves, fraudsters and foreign bad actors. Even if your full record was not transmitted to an outside organization, the existence of unsecured copies on private servers creates ongoing exposure.
A valid Social Security Number, along with address and birthdate, could be enough for a bad actor to open new credit cards, apply for government benefits in your name, reset or redirect brokerage accounts, drain bank accounts, file fraudulent tax returns or access medical services.
The SSA can change your number, but only if you provide evidence of ongoing identity theft in-person at a field office (5). Unfortunately, DOGE shut down 26 field offices last year, which makes this process a little more difficult (6).
