Social Security Chief Data Officer Charles Borges submitted a Friday resignation letter days after citing policy violations in a whistleblower report documenting the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) decision to upload sensitive data to a “vulnerable cloud environment.”
“Recently, I have been made aware of several projects and incidents which may constitute violations of federal statutes or regulations, involve the potential safety and security of high value data assets in the cloud, possibly provided unauthorized or inappropriate access to agency enterprise data storage solutions, and may involve unauthorized data exchange with other agencies,” Borges wrote in the letter submitted to Social Security Administrator (SSA) Frank Bisignano.
“As these events evolved, newly installed leadership in IT and executive offices created a culture of panic and dread, with minimal information sharing, frequent discussions on employee termination, and general organizational dysfunction,” he added.
Borges said executives and employees are afraid to raise concerns for fear of retribution or termination, while noting his requests for information tied to questionable activities have been “rebuffed or ignored by agency leadership.”
The SSA did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment regarding the matter.
However, the former chief data officer said conditions were “intolerable” and often weighed on his physical well-being due to his inability to conduct data oversight at the agency.
“I cannot verify that agency data is being used in accordance with legal agreements or in compliance with federal requirements,” Borges said.
“The escalating and relentless daily stress of lack of visibility and exclusion from decision-making on these activities, silence from leadership, and anxiety and fear over potential illegal actions resulting in the loss of citizen data, is more than a reasonable employee could bear.”
In recent months, citizens across the country and Democrats have condemned DOGE’s efforts to collect personal data for undisclosed reasons.
Lawmakers argued individuals hired by the newly formed agency were not approved to access sensitive information without security clearance.
Some DOGE officials hired by former White House adviser Elon Musk were as young as 20 years old and granted viewing privileges for the purpose of combating “waste, fraud and abuse” as described by the Trump administration.
