DOGE Social Security Handling Called Risky in Democrats’ Report

The Department of Government Efficiency’s loose handling of government data continues to put taxpayers’ sensitive information at risk, including Social Security numbers for millions of Americans, according to a report from Democrats on a Senate oversight committee.

The report, compiled by Democratic staff on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, draws on visits to agencies in recent months and interviews with alleged whistleblowers. It paints a picture of a disorganized shadow government under billionaire Elon Musk that handled public data with impunity even as its goals remained murky.

The report found that DOGE staffers, including 19-year-old Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, were given access to the NUMIDENT database, which contains the Social Security numbers of every American. The database was uploaded to an unsecured cloud, an unnamed whistleblower told the committee, speculating that the purpose might have been to provide free Social Security-number verification for other federal agencies.

A spokesperson for the Social Security Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The committee called the move a “clear violation of federal privacy laws.” A breach, it warned, could require the reissuance of Social Security numbers for all Americans—disrupting banking, employment, and other essential functions.

“Doge would have been able to grant private companies or foreign bad actors access to the data and the agency would not know,” the report says.

Committee staff described peculiar scenes in DOGE workspaces. They reported encountering armed guards on particular floors of office buildings where DOGE was said to be working, only to find the workspaces largely empty.

At the General Services Administration, they found makeshift bedrooms with IKEA furniture occupying most of the executive suite, apparently for DOGE staff to work for days without leaving the building, the report said. They also had a pingpong table and a refrigerator stocked with Celsius energy drinks and Muscle Milk, the report said.

GSA staff said the office wasn’t being used as a “primary residency” for any employee, though the Democratic aides said in the report that one of the bedrooms “showed signs of long-term use,” including a closet full of clothes.

The visit took place on May 28, the day Musk announced his departure from DOGE.