The Digester

Former DOGE engineer allegedly copied Social Security records to a thumb drive

Mar 10th 2026

A Washington Post report says a former DOGE software engineer allegedly copied Numident and the Master Death File from the Social Security Administration onto a thumb drive, and the SSA inspector general is investigating.

  • A whistleblower complaint reported by The Washington Post says the ex-Department of Government Efficiency software engineer took two restricted SSA databases and stored them on a thumb drive.
  • The databases named are Numident and the Master Death File, which could contain records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans.
  • The former employee told colleagues he previously had unrestricted God-level access to SSA systems.
  • The Social Security Administration inspector general is investigating the whistleblower complaint.
  • The case follows other allegations that DOGE members improperly accessed or exposed Social Security data and was part of a wider probe that led a judge to block DOGE from SSA systems.

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