Social Security whistleblower who claims DOGE mishandled Americans' sensitive data resigns from post

Key Points

• Charles Borges, the Social Security Administration's chief data officer, has resigned after alleging that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mishandled sensitive data affecting over 300 million Americans.
• Borges claims that his whistleblower complaint led to a culture of fear and a hostile work environment, making it “impossible to perform legally and ethically.”
• The whistleblower's allegations suggest that sensitive information, including health and financial data, is at risk of identity theft if accessed by bad actors due to DOGE's actions.
• The SSA has not commented on Borges' resignation or the claims against the agency in his complaint, which follows lawsuits over DOGE's access to personal data.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Social Security official who has filed a whistleblower complaint alleging the Department of Government Efficiency officials mishandled Americans' sensitive information says he's resigning his post because of actions taken against him since making his complaint.

Charles Borges, the agency's chief data officer, alleged that more than 300 million Americans’ Social Security data was put at risk by DOGE officials who uploaded sensitive information to a cloud account not subject to oversight. His whistleblower disclosure was submitted to the special counsel’s office on Tuesday.

In a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Borges claimed that since filing his whistleblower complaint, the agency's actions make his duties “impossible to perform legally and ethically” and have caused him “physical, mental and emotional distress.”

“After reporting internally to management and externally to regulators, serious data and security and integrity concerns impacting our citizens’ most sensitive personal data, I have suffered exclusion, isolation, internal strife, and a culture of fear, creating a hostile work environment and making work conditions intolerable,” Borges added.

The Project Government Accountability Office, which is representing him in his whistleblower case, posted Borges' resignation letter on its website Friday evening. Borges declined to comment.

“He no longer felt that he could continue to work for the Social Security Administration in good conscience, given what he had witnessed,” his attorney Andrea Meza said in a statement. She added that Borges would continue to work with the proper oversight bodies on the matter.

In his whistleblower's complaint, Borges said the potentially sensitive information put at risk by DOGE's actions includes health diagnoses, income, banking information, familial relationships and personal biographic data.

“Should bad actors gain access to this cloud environment, Americans may be susceptible to widespread identity theft, may lose vital healthcare and food benefits, and the government may be responsible for re-issuing every American a new Social Security Number at great cost,” said the complaint.

Borges had served as the Social Security Administration's chief data officer since January.

The SSA declined to comment on Borges’ resignation or allegations against the agency in his letter to colleagues.

President Donald Trump’s DOGE has faced scrutiny as it received unprecedented access from the Republican administration to troves of personal data across the government under the mandate of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse.

Labor and retiree groups sued SSA earlier this year for allowing DOGE to access Americans’ sensitive agency data, though a divided appeals panel decided this month that DOGE could access the information.

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