Former Social Security chief says Americans should 'be outraged'

When President Donald Trump and X CEO Elon Musk granted MAGA ideologues access to Americans' Social Security data, experts warned of serious security risks. In light of a recent report that one of the so-called “DOGE” staffers allegedly pocketed private Social Security data, President Joe Biden’s Social Security Administrator says Americans need to “be outraged.”

“When banking institutions are made aware that the personal identifying data of their customers have been stolen, they are required to notify their customers and provide credit monitoring services free of charge,” Martin O’Malley, a former Maryland governor (2007-2015) and Social Security Administrator (2023-2024), told AlterNet. “These guys handed the keys to the safe over to the data robbers, and then tried to cover it up. God bless the whistleblowers. Americans should be outraged.”

O’Malley is reacting to a report earlier in March from The Washington Post, one which revealed allegations that “a former U.S. DOGE Service employee claimed he had access to two highly sensitive agency databases and planned to share the information with his private employer — a claim that, if true, would constitute an unprecedented breach of security protocols at an agency that serves more than 70 million Americans.”

Explaining that the DOGE software engineer (later identified by Wired Magazine as John Solly) is accused of telling several colleagues “he possessed two tightly restricted databases of U.S. citizens’ information, and had at least one on a thumb drive” and named them “Numident” and the “Master Death File,” the individual contained information “for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers, places and dates of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents’ names.” Solly is also accused of bragging that he expected to share the data with a future employer and was confident Trump would pardon him if he ever faced legal charges for his actions.

Speaking to AlterNet by text message, O’Malley pointed out that career employees at Social Security (who he has previously praised to this reporter as usually diligent, effective and faithful workers) tried to resist the seeming misconduct from DOGE when they perceived it. The problem is that they were ignored.

“It is clear that when career civil servants and lawyers at Social Security pushed back and pointed out that this behavior was illegal, the Trump appointees effectively and some explicitly said, ‘We don't care. We will take the risk. Give the side boys everything the want,” O’Malley observed. He argued the result of this was both tragic and foreseeable.

“Now the boys have boosted our data,” O’Malley said. “Who knows whether there is now one copy or millions floating around out their for bad actors to purchase on the black market?”

When asked what should happen to DOGE employees who stole Social Security data — from Musk and Solly all the way down to lesser-known workers we might now know about — O’Malley said criminal charges should be on the table.

“The people who did this - and those who willfully and recklessly disregarded the law to open our data to this grand theft— should face criminal penalties,” O’Malley said. “In fact, even the Trump DOJ has referred DOGE personnel for criminal investigation for comparatively small thefts and takings of our data.”

The alleged misuse of Social Security data is not the only accusation facing DOGE. In February Wired Magazine reported that employees were ordered to cooperate with immigration enforcement if they asked about in-person beneficiary appointments. As the outlet put it, employees were told that “if ICE comes in and asks if someone has an upcoming appointment, we will let them know the date and time.” This is in spite of the fact that undocumented immigrants are ineligible for Social Security benefits and DOGE did not provide any evidence of that supposed fraud ever happening.

Indeed, according to O’Malley, the threat to Social Security’s integrity comes from the Trump administration, not undocumented immigrants.

“This agency has a proud and unbroken 90 year history of defending and safeguarding our data. In a few reckless and criminal months, Donald Trump’s administration committed the largest data theft in U.S. history,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley is not alone among Democrats in protesting the alleged theft. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, expressed similar views.

“Not only has an ex-DOGE bro been accused of running around with the Social Security information of every American on a flash drive, he also may have the ability to edit and manipulate data at the Social Security Administration at will,” Garcia declared in response to the news. “This is dangerous and outrageous, and Oversight Committee Democrats will fight for transparency and accountability.”

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