Whistleblower alleged ex-DOGE employee retained Social Security data on personal device, claimed remote-alter access

On March 10, 2026, The Washington Post reported that a whistleblower told congressional investigators a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) software engineer at the Social Security Administration (SSA) had retained copies of at least two tightly restricted SSA databases covering nearly every living American, including one saved to a personal thumb drive, and claimed to retain "God-level" access letting him remotely alter SSA records. The whistleblower alleged the former employee told colleagues he planned to share the data with his new private-sector employer. SSA's inspector general had already notified the leadership of four congressional committees on March 6 that it was reviewing an anonymous complaint about the matter, and by March 11 confirmed to House Oversight Committee Democrats it had formally opened an investigation.

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia called the allegations "deeply disturbing" and said they showed "callous disregard for the safety and security of Americans' most sensitive information." Garcia demanded SSA's inspector general open a comprehensive independent investigation and brief the Committee, separately demanded SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano provide a staff-level briefing by March 23, 2026 on DOGE's access to Americans' data, and called on former DOGE employees with knowledge of the alleged conduct to schedule transcribed interviews with Committee staff by the same date.

SSA, the unnamed former employee, and the private company he allegedly joined all disputed the whistleblower's account; an SSA spokesperson told NPR the allegations "have been strongly refuted by all named parties," while noting even the Post could not independently verify the claims. The underlying facts remained contested, but the scale of what was described -- restricted SSA databases covering nearly the entire American population, allegedly copied onto a personal device outside government security control, by someone who claimed he could still alter the records remotely -- was enough on its own to draw a formal inspector general probe and sustained congressional demands for answers.