The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violated protocols and had greater access to sensitive American data than previously disclosed, the Trump administration admitted in a recent court filing.
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Justice Department officials told a federal court in Maryland that the Social Security Administration (SSA) had not fully complied with a previous court order and had made statements that were later found to be inaccurate. The admission was part of a document correcting the record in a case filed by unions representing government workers.
In a recent review, the SSA discovered that two members of the DOGE group had contacted a political advocacy group in March 2025 requesting an analysis of state voter rolls. The group’s goal was to find evidence of voter fraud and overturn election results in certain states. A DOGE member signed a “Voter Data Agreement” with the group, which was not reviewed through the appropriate process for SSA data exchanges.
The SSA learned of the agreement's existence in November during a separate review.
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The agency made two referrals under the Hatch, which prohibits government employees from engaging in political activities in their professional capacity, in late December.
The SSA’s recent investigation also revealed that some previous statements made in court by its then-chief intelligence officer were not entirely accurate. The filing says the agency believed its statements were true at the time, although new information has shown some inconsistencies. For example, the government maintained its previous statement that the U.S. Digital Services Agency, which had taken over DOGE, “never had access to SSA’s file systems.” However, it was later discovered that a member of SSA’s DOGE team sent an encrypted, password-protected file containing personal information on about 1,000 people to a senior DOGE adviser. It remains unclear whether the DOGE adviser ever received the password.
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Additionally, DOGE employees were temporarily granted access to systems containing Americans’ personal information after a temporary restraining order was issued by a court, but the government said the employees never actually saw any personal information with this access. It was also clarified that a DOGE employee had performed searches for personal information in SSA systems.
