In November 2025, Charles Borges, former Chief Data Officer of the Social Security Administration (SSA), filed a whistleblower report with the Office of Special Counsel alleging that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had uploaded information to an unsecured cloud server. On January 16th, the DOJ filed a Notice of Corrections to the Record, confirming that DOGE personnel mishandled data and partially validating the whistleblower’s allegation.
Borges’s disclosure warned that DOGE had copied data held by the SSA, including personally identifiable information, into a cloud environment lacking government security protections and independent oversight. In its recent filing, the DOJ acknowledged that DOGE-affiliated staff used a third-party server called “Cloudflare”, unknown to SSA leadership. Although the DOJ initially denied these allegations, this filing confirms that data mismanagement occurred. The SSA stated that it is currently unable to determine which data was shared or whether that data still exists outside of federal control.
The filing also reveals that members of SSA’s DOGE Team were asked to analyze state voter rolls at the request of a political advocacy group, and that a DOGE Team Member signed a “Voter Data Agreement” with that advocacy group in March 2025, without the knowledge of non-DOGE-affiliated SSA employees. The SSA reported that it had not seen any evidence confirming that agency data was shared with this group, but is aware that DOGE employees were asked to share data with the group.
In a recent press release, Andrea Meza, counsel for Borges and Director of Advocacy Campaigns at the Government Accountability Project, said, “These admissions confirm what Mr. Borges courageously warned about months ago… DOGE personnel not only bypassed established safeguards and endangered Americans’ personal information as Mr. Borges alleged, but the DOJ filing reveals they also entangled federal data systems in partisan political activity aimed at overturning election results.”
Under the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act, federal employees who report government misconduct to the OSC are protected from retaliation and eligible to receive compensatory damages if retaliation occurs. While Borges chose to make his status as a whistleblower public, the OSC allows whistleblowers to report their concerns anonymously and will refer anonymous disclosures to the relevant agency’s Office of the Inspector General for further investigation.
