In a significant reversal of position, the Trump administration has formally acknowledged that personnel working within Elon Musk's controversial cost-cutting initiative improperly accessed and shared highly sensitive American social security data. This admission comes through a federal court filing submitted by the Justice Department on Friday, marking a dramatic development in an ongoing lawsuit concerning data privacy and political activity.
Secret Data-Sharing Agreement Revealed
The court documents reveal that a member of the so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (Doge) signed a clandestine data-sharing agreement with an unidentified political advocacy group in March 2025. This group's stated objective was to uncover evidence of voter fraud and potentially overturn election results in specific states. The Social Security Administration has informed the court that it had no prior knowledge of this agreement and only discovered its existence during an unrelated review conducted in November.
Multiple Violations and Investigations
The agency has referred two potential violations of the Hatch Act, which strictly prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities, to the Office of Special Counsel for thorough investigation. According to the filing, "Based on its review of records obtained during or after October 2025, SSA identified communications, use of data, and other actions by the then-SSA DOGE Team that were potentially outside of SSA policy and/or noncompliant with the District Court's March 20, 2025, temporary restraining order."
Further concerning details emerged regarding how Doge members shared sensitive information. The court documents indicate they utilized Cloudflare, an unauthorized third-party server, for data transmission. Alarmingly, the agency has been unable to determine precisely what information was shared or whether it continues to exist on these external servers.
Specific Data Breach Instances
In one particularly troubling instance, a Doge staffer sent an encrypted, password-protected file to Steve Davis, identified as a senior adviser to the Doge operation. Agency officials believe this file contained names and addresses of approximately 1,000 individuals derived from social security systems. To date, officials have been unable to access this file to verify its complete contents.
These revelations represent a complete about-face for social security officials who had previously maintained there was no evidence that Doge had potentially compromised personal data. This stance persisted even after former chief data officer Charles Borges warned Congress in August that Doge was storing American citizens' data in an unsafe environment.
Political Response and Calls for Accountability
In response to these disclosures, Democratic representatives John Larson of Connecticut and Richard Neal of Massachusetts, who serve as ranking members on the House social security subcommittee and ways and means committee, have issued strong calls for prosecutions. They stated jointly: "The DOGE appointees engaged in this scheme – who were never brought before Congress for approval or even publicly identified – must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for these abhorrent violations of the public trust."
The lawmakers added: "Today, we learned alarming news that proves the brave whistleblower who came forward in August was right."
Continued Unauthorized Access
According to the court filing, one Doge team member conducted searches of personally identifiable information on the morning of March 24, even after the agency believed it had revoked all such access in compliance with the court's temporary restraining order. The final search occurred at approximately 9:30 AM, with full access terminated by noon that same day.
Additionally, the filing disclosed that Doge members had been granted access to several systems beyond what the agency had previously reported to the court. These included employee records, personnel access information, and shared workspaces that would have enabled team members to exchange data freely.
Broader Concerns About Doge Operations
Last April, more than two dozen federal employees across multiple agencies reported to journalists that Doge operatives had been secretly recording meetings, monitoring computer activity, and employing artificial intelligence tools to scan for perceived disloyalty. One housing and urban development employee described the environment as "being in a horror film where you know something out there wants to kill you but you never know when or how or who it is."
Despite being launched by Elon Musk at the beginning of the Trump administration with promises to root out massive social security fraud, Doge ultimately failed to identify any widespread waste, fraud, or abuse within the retirement and disability programs administered by the Social Security Administration, according to the court filings.
The disclosures emerged in response to a lawsuit filed in February by unions and an advocacy group attempting to block Doge from accessing social security data. A federal judge had temporarily barred the operation from accessing sensitive information, stating that Doge "essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion." The Supreme Court later lifted this restriction, leading to the current legal proceedings and revelations.
