Social Security holds data on over 500 million Americans, living and dead. Federal law restricts its use to one mission: ensuring you receive the benefits you've earned. Not to deport your neighbor. Not to enrich Elon Musk and train his AI. And not to keep you from exercising your Constitutional right to vote.
Americans have entrusted their personal data to the Social Security Administration with the understanding that it will be carefully guarded, accessed only by those who need it to ensure we receive our earned benefits. The confidentiality and security of that data has been of the highest importance to the Social Security Administration for its entire history.
Indeed, the very first regulation issued by the three-member Social Security Board (the predecessor to today's Social Security Commissioner) was about keeping Americans' data secure and private. Not only was it the very first regulation, it was distributed to every employee. To this day, every single Social Security Administration employee and contractor must complete privacy and security awareness training every single year.
The privacy and security of your data that you have entrusted to the Social Security Administration was carefully safeguarded by every president, Republican and Democratic alike, until Donald Trump. When he was inaugurated, he appropriately named Michelle King, a nonpartisan, extremely experienced career civil servant, as the acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. However, when she declined to hand over all of that sensitive data, Trump removed her.
Trump jumped over 120 more experienced employees to name King's replacement: A mid-level employee who was on administrative leave. Why was he on administrative leave? Because he had been providing Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with your private Social Security data.
Not surprisingly, the Trump administration is indeed sharing and misusing your data. In multiple whistleblower complaints, ongoing federal investigations, and court filings, operatives embedded in Social Security by DOGE have been accused of:
SSA employees are also raising alarm bells about being forced to share data with the Department of Homeland Security to target immigrants.
As awful as all of this is, it's likely just the tip of the iceberg. Given DOGE's utter carelessness and impunity with regard to our most private data, there's no limit to the individuals, corporations or foreign entities who might possess it. In the words of Charles Borges, whistleblower and former chief data officer of the Social Security Administration, "There could be one or a million copies of it, and we will never know now."
SSA's data is a treasure trove for bad actors. It includes Social Security numbers, addresses, places of birth, citizenship status, mothers' maiden names, spouse and children's information, and more. If people have simply applied for Social Security disability benefits, SSA has information on their medical history. This is data that scammers could easily use to fool people into stealing their benefits.
Stealing one person's Social Security data is a felony. DOGE is accused of stealing the data of 500 million Americans, living and dead. That amounts to the greatest data theft in history.
Musk and his DOGE operatives did not act alone. They were enabled by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. A lower court cut off DOGE's access to Social Security data, but the Supreme Court issued a preliminary injunction restoring it. They were also enabled by Republicans in Congress, who refused to support Democratic efforts to investigate DOGE operatives and hold them accountable.
There is currently no meaningful check on the Trump administration. For the security of our earned benefits and the personal data we have entrusted to our government, that must change.
If Democrats win control of Congress this November, they will have the power to subpoena current and former Trump administration employees and seek to hold those who have committed crimes accountable. Then, we can begin to learn who has our private data, and take steps to restore our safety.
Nancy Altman is president of Social Security Works.