SSA official resigns after whistleblower complaint over DOGE database 

Charles Borges, the Social Security Administration’s chief data officer, resigned from the agency Friday, just days after he alleged in a whistleblower complaint that Department of Government Efficiency staff compromised Americans’ personal information by using a vulnerable cloud server. 

In a resignation letter dated Aug. 29, Borges informed Social Security Administrator Frank Bisignano he is “regretfully involuntarily leaving” his position at the agency. 

“This resignation is the result of SSA’s actions against me, which make my duties impossible to perform legally and ethically, have caused me serious attendant mental, physical, and emotional distress, and constitute a constructive discharge,” Borges wrote in the letter, later shared by the Government Accountability Project. 

The letter came three days after Borges filed a complaint with Congress, alleging DOGE officials had permitted themselves to copy Americans’ Social Security information on a cloud server without proper authorization. He said Friday his allegations may also “involve unauthorized data exchange with other agencies,” and put more than 300 million people’s personal information at risk. 

According to Borges, the copied information came from the agency’s Numerical Identification System (NUMIDENT) database, which includes the names of Social Security card applicants, phone numbers, addresses, place and date of birth, parents’ names and Social Security numbers. 

“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,” the complaint warned. 

“As these events evolved, newly installed leadership in IT and executive offices created a culture of panic and dread, with minimal information sharing, frequent discussions on employee termination and general organizational dysfunction,” Borges wrote in his resignation. “Executives and employees are afraid to share information or concerns on questionable activities for fear of retribution or termination.” 

Borges reiterated that his repeated requests for attention to his concerns were “rebuffed or ignored” by agency leadership, adding that some employees were instructed not to respond to his inquiries. 

He spent just over eight months as SSA’s CDO, a role he emphasized requires complete visibility into data access and exchange across the agency. Borge said he felt his role was “untenable,” given his “inability” to carry out his duties. 

Following the complaint, Borges said he “suffered exclusion, isolation, internal strife, and a culture of fear, creating a hostile work environment and making work conditions intolerable.” 

When reached for comment on Borges’ resignation, an SSA spokesperson said the agency “cannot comment on personnel matters.”

An agency spokesperson told FedScoop last week that the SSA stores “all personal data in secure environments with robust safeguards.” 

“The data referenced in the complaint is stored in a long-standing environment used by SSA and walled off from the internet,” the spokesperson said. “High-level career SSA officials have administrative access to this system with oversight by SSA’s Information Security team. We are not aware of any compromise to this environment and remain dedicated to protecting sensitive personal data.”

Wired reported Friday that Borges’s email was sent to agency staff, but the message disappeared from some employees’ inboxes just minutes later. FedScoop reached out to the SSA for further comment. 

The agency has repeatedly faced controversy over DOGE’s access to SSA systems, which Borges noted houses the “most sensitive data” in the federal government. Multiple groups sued SSA and its leaders for permitting DOGE’s access to the agency’s systems earlier this year. A judge issued a temporary restraining order and injunction that was extended to early June, but the Supreme Court ultimately sided with DOGE, granting the efficiency unit access to SSA’s records.