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A US federal judge has blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing data stored by the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Earlier this year, DOGE, which is run by world’s richest man and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, attempted to access databases managed by the SSA, which contain the names, Social Security numbers, employment data, insurance data, benefit information, medical information, driver’s license data, banking and credit card information, and more.
Now, however, Maryland District Judge Ellen Hollander has blocked DOGE from accessing the SSA’s databases.
“The DOGE team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” a Thursday (20 March) ruling determined.
“It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”
According to the filing, DOGE has 10 employees at the SSA, seven of which had access to personally identifiable information (PII) within its data systems.
Despite the SSA granting DOGE access to the “personal and private data of millions of Americans”, Musk’s unofficial government agency never gave a reason for needing “unlimited” access to the systems.
“Instead, the government simply repeats its incantation of a need to modernise the system and uncover fraud. Its method of doing so is tantamount to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer,” the ruling said.
Judge Hollander said that the access violated a number of privacy laws and created cyber security risks.
DOGE has already accessed other sensitive systems, including that of the US Treasury.
Senator Ron Wyden questioned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after it was reported that a person connected to Musk sought access to the Treasury Department payment system, which “is maintained by non-political staff, disperses trillions of dollars each year, such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax credits for individuals and businesses, grants and payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk-owned companies”.
In a letter to Bessent, Wyden stressed the importance of the payment systems and that any political interference could negatively impact the US as a whole.
“To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy,” said Wyden.
“I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs.”
Earlier this month, Musk claimed that the Treasury officers responsible for approving payments never denied payments and even approved payments for fraudsters and terrorists.
“The DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups,” he said on X, not providing any evidence.
“They literally never denied a payment in their entire career.
“Not even once.”
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