Social Security whistleblower who claims DOGE mishandled Americans' sensitive data resigns from post

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A Social Security whistleblower whose complaint alleged that Department of Government Efficiency officials mishandled Americans' sensitive information says he's resigning because of actions taken against him since making the claim.

Charles Borges, the agency's chief data officer, alleged that more than 300 million Americans’ Social Security data was put at risk by DOGE officials who uploaded sensitive information to a cloud account not subject to oversight. His disclosure was submitted to the special counsel’s office on Tuesday.

In a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Borges claimed that since filing the complaint, the agency's actions make his duties “impossible to perform legally and ethically” and have caused him “physical, mental and emotional distress.”

“After reporting internally to management and externally to regulators, serious data and security and integrity concerns impacting our citizens’ most sensitive personal data, I have suffered exclusion, isolation, internal strife, and a culture of fear, creating a hostile work environment and making work conditions intolerable,” Borges added.

The Government Accountability Project, which is representing him in his whistleblower case, posted Borges' resignation letter on its website Friday evening. Borges declined to comment.

“He no longer felt that he could continue to work for the Social Security Administration in good conscience, given what he had witnessed,” his attorney Andrea Meza said in a statement. She added that Borges would continue to work with the proper oversight bodies on the matter.

In his whistleblower's complaint, Borges said the potentially sensitive information put at risk by DOGE's actions includes health diagnoses, income, banking information, familial relationships and personal biographic data.

“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,” said the complaint.

Borges had served as the Social Security Administration's chief data officer since January.

The SSA declined to comment on Borges’ resignation or allegations against the agency in his letter to colleagues.

President Donald Trump’s DOGE has faced scrutiny as it received unprecedented access from the Republican administration to troves of personal data across the government under the mandate of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse.

Labor and retiree groups sued SSA earlier this year for allowing DOGE to access Americans’ sensitive agency data, though a divided appeals panel decided this month that DOGE could access the information.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Borges is being represented in the whistleblower case by the Government Accountability Project, not The Project Government Accountability Office.