A senior Social Security Administration (SSA) official has stepped down after filing a whistleblower complaint accusing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) of mismanaging highly sensitive personal data belonging to millions of Americans.
Charles Borges, the SSA’s Chief Data Officer, alleged that DOGE officials exposed the Social Security data of over 300 million Americans by uploading it to a cloud platform that lacked proper oversight. He submitted his complaint to the Office of Special Counsel on Tuesday.
In his resignation letter addressed to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Borges said that, since filing the complaint, his ability to carry out his responsibilities in a “legal and ethical” manner has been compromised. He cited emotional, physical, and mental distress, along with a hostile work environment marked by isolation, retaliation, and fear.
“After raising internal concerns and alerting regulators about significant risks to our citizens' most sensitive information, I have faced exclusion and internal conflict, making my work environment unbearable,” he wrote.
The Project Government Accountability Office, which represents Borges in the whistleblower case, published his resignation letter online Friday. Borges did not speak to the media, but his lawyer Andrea Meza stated that he resigned because he could no longer, in good conscience, remain at the SSA. She added that he plans to continue cooperating with oversight authorities.
In his complaint, Borges warned that the data compromised by DOGE could include medical records, income details, banking information, family relationships, and other personal identifiers.
He stressed the potential consequences:
“If bad actors were to access this cloud system, Americans could face widespread identity theft, loss of crucial health or food benefits, and the government might be forced to reissue Social Security numbers to everyone — a move that would be extremely costly.”
Borges had held the Chief Data Officer role since January.
The Social Security Administration did not comment on his resignation or the accusations outlined in his letter.
Under former President Donald Trump, DOGE was granted expanded access to vast amounts of personal data as part of its mission to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. The department has been criticized for overreach, and earlier this year, labor and retiree organizations sued the SSA for giving DOGE access to private data. A divided appeals court recently ruled in favor of DOGE, allowing continued access.