Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

DOJ filed Notice of Corrections to Record (January 16, 2026) in SSA litigation acknowledging DOGE misconduct: (1) SSA data was disclosed to third parties using non-government server (Cloudflare) March 7-17, 2025; (2) DOGE SSA team member entered Voter Data Agreement to analyze state voter rolls for someone outside government; (3) DOGE team member forwarded encrypted file with names/addresses of ~1000 people to DHS, copying Steve Davis (DOGE/EOP) and a DOGE DOL employee. Court ordered DOGE to delete all unlawfully accessed data and temporarily blocked further access. Senate Finance Committee demanded full accounting — SSA court filing admitted it does not know full extent of data accessed/shared by DOGE.

DOGE operatives remain in politically appointed positions government-wide as of August 2025. OPM confirmed no career-role conversions occurred. Dozens embedded at IRS, NIH, SSA, GSA, HHS, DOE, FAA, State, Commerce, EPA, DOT, SEC, USPS, NASA, OPM. OMB Director Vought indicated DOGE will become institutionalized at agency level. USDS expanding to 150 staff for 2026.

DOGE built cross-agency data consolidation infrastructure: (1) specialized computers giving simultaneous access to networks/databases across agencies; (2) 'backpacks full of laptops' each with access to different agency systems to combine databases maintained separately by multiple agencies. Reported by Rep. Gerald Connolly citing whistleblower. Goal: create single centralized government database combining IRS, SSA, HHS, Education, Labor data. Databases accessed include: Treasury payment systems (SSNs, tax returns, addresses, DOBs); OPM (background checks, medical/bank data, biometrics); SSA benefit records; Education/Labor/HHS benefit data. No security vetting or training for DOGE staff before access was granted (OPM litigation finding). At least 12 lawsuits allege Privacy Act violations.

ProPublica tracked 100+ DOGE members: at least 23 made cuts at agencies regulating their prior employers. Key placements: Steve Davis (Boring Company CEO) -> EOP/GSA exec; Antonio Gracias (Tesla/SpaceX investor, $1M Musk super PAC) -> SSA; Eliezer Mishory (Kalshi CRO) -> SEC lead (while SEC was suing Musk); Marko Elez (X/SpaceX) -> Treasury payment systems (resigned over social media controversy); Rajasekar Jegannathan (Tesla VP IT AI) -> GSA data engineer; Alexander Simonpour (Tesla) -> GSA/USPS/NASA; Brian Bjelde (SpaceX VP people) -> OPM senior adviser (planned 70% workforce cuts); Ryan Riedel (SpaceX) -> DOE CIO; Brady Glantz, Thomas Kiernan, Ted Malaska, Sam Smeal (SpaceX engineers) -> FAA SGEs; Justin Monroe (SpaceX security) -> FBI director's office adviser; Payton Rehling (Valor Equity) -> SSA/USCIS efficiency adviser.

DOGE anti-fraud tool deployed at SSA flagged only 2 of 110,000 claims while slowing claims processing by 25%. This represents a core mission failure: the stated purpose of DOGE was to eliminate fraud and waste, but the primary data tool deployed for that purpose at SSA had a 0.0018% flag rate on the test population, and materially degraded service delivery. The SSA processing slowdown has real human impact on benefits recipients.