DOGE Blocked From Social Security Data Over Privacy Concerns

A U.S. federal judge ordered the Department of Government Efficiency to stay away from Social Security Administration data containing personally identifiable information, condemning its probe as a “fishing expedition.”

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U.S. District for the District of Maryland Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander said DOGE likely violated the Privacy Act of 1974 after staffers failed to justify their access to the agency’s sensitive records. She issued a temporary restraining order requiring DOGE associates to delete any Social Security data with personally identifiable information and condemned the methods used by President Donald Trump and his billionaire envoy Elon Musk to root out fraud, waste and bloat, stating the task force found no real evidence at SSA.

“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” Hollander wrote in a 137-page ruling. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”

The ruling followed court revelations that DOGE associates disregarded federal safeguards meant to protect sensitive data. In a declaration, former SSA Acting Chief of Staff Tiffany Flick said Mike Russo – a part-time advisor to a payment firm that signed a 2021 deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and now SSA’s chief information officer – pressured officials to grant software engineer Akash Bobba access to key systems despite unresolved security clearance issues.

Flick said DOGE members ignored security protocols and demanded unfettered access to sensitive financial data, forcing her out in February for enforcing “need to know” policies (see: Lawsuit Says DOGE Is Ignoring Key Social Security Data Rules).

Recent lawsuits and court filings reveal how DOGE advanced Trump and Musk’s mission to shrink the federal workforce, with sworn testimony describing staffers violating security policies and sending unencrypted troves of data to Trump officials. In a separate case, a Manhattan federal judge found DOGE’s access to Treasury systems left the agency’s division responsible for disbursing trillions of dollars annually “more vulnerable to hacking” (see: US DOGE Staffer Sent Unencrypted Treasury Data Over Email).

Under Hollander’s temporary restraining order, DOGE associates at SSA can still maintain access to redacted and anonymized Social Security data after clearing a background check and receiving proper training.

The judge said lawyers for DOGE “never identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE Team needs unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems,” and that “the government has not even attempted to explain why a more tailored, measured, titrated approach is not suitable to the task.”

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.