Senate Democrats Say DOGE Chaos Put Americans’ Data At Risk

A new report from Senate Democrats accuses the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) of creating unsafe working conditions that put Americans’ sensitive data at risk.

According to the report, first detailed by The New York Times, DOGE operated out of the General Services Administration building, where the office resembled a makeshift camp. The room contained armed guards, together with children’s toys, windows covered by garbage bags and sleeping areas.

Staff members for Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said DOGE aides sat at desks with “eight or 10 laptops deep,” often using Starlink networks that “could have allowed them to work without being tracked,” as reported by The Times,

The report cites whistle-blowers who alleged that Social Security numbers were placed on cloud servers “without any verified security controls.” The Times says that the report stated that this action created an extreme danger of a major data security breach.

The Social Security Administration received public warnings about these issues from former chief data officer Charles Borges, who had already raised these concerns publicly.

The Times reports that in one case, a former DOGE employee at the Social Security Administration, reportedly inquired about cloud data upload, so that the Department of Homeland Security could access it.

Another whistle-blower said Social Security’s Numident data later appeared at Homeland Security “in a strange format,” suggesting irregular sharing methods.

Despite these claims, the report offered few new examples of security breaches, as reported by The Times. The report showed that Democrats faced difficulties in maintaining control of DOGE operations. Officials often refused to explain what projects DOGE employees were working on, or even confirm who had been assigned to which agencies.

“This report concludes that DOGE is jeopardizing Americans’ most sensitive data, while its employees operate under a layer of secrecy that shields them from meaningful oversight and accountability,” the report’s authors wrote, as noted by The Times.