House Democrats: DOGE is building a ‘master database’ of Americans’ sensitive information

Elon Musk with DOGE eyes.

In a missive to the Social Security Administration’s Inspector General’s bureau requesting an probe into DOGE, Ranking Member Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) alleged that the authorities entity created by Elon Musk supposedly to trim the size of the national authorities is present constructing a “cross-agency maestro database” of delicate idiosyncratic information.

Wired appeared to backmost up Connolly’s allegations connected Friday, detailing an effort astatine DOGE to fold this  database into the Department of Homeland Security, the counterterrorism bureau founded aft 9/11. Specifically, “mass amounts” of idiosyncratic information harvested from the IRS, SSA, and voting records successful Pennsylvania and Florida were precocious uploaded into servers astatine the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS), which processes migration cases.

Connolly cited grounds from SSA whistleblowers who witnessed DOGE engineers accessing the agency’s IT strategy with “backpacks afloat of laptops, each with entree to antithetic bureau systems”, with the purpose of combining them into 1 database. Connolly warned that not lone would specified a database airs a menace to authorities cybersecurity, which siloes its accusation crossed respective agencies to forestall cyberattacks from accessing each accusation astatine once, it was besides precise apt violating respective privateness laws.

The Committee has besides received reports astir troubling, fumbling efforts by DOGE to harvester delicate accusation held by SSA, the IRS, HHS, and different agencies into a azygous cross-agency maestro database. Improving however national agencies stock information to amended outcomes and lawsuit work is simply a longstanding and bipartisan extremity successful Congress. Information obtained by the Committee, however, indicates that DOGE is carrying retired its enactment successful a mode that disregards important cybersecurity and privateness considerations, perchance successful usurpation of the law. 

In an evident effort to sidestep web information controls, the Committee has learned that DOGE engineers person tried to make specialized computers for themselves that simultaneously springiness afloat entree to networks and databases crossed antithetic agencies. Such a strategy would airs unprecedented operational information risks and undermine the zero-trust cybersecurity architecture that prevents a breach astatine 1 bureau from spreading crossed the government. Information obtained by the Committee besides indicates that individuals associated with DOGE person assembled backpacks afloat of laptops, each with entree to antithetic bureau systems, that DOGE unit is utilizing to harvester databases that are presently maintained separately by aggregate national agencies.

Though respective different House investigations into DOGE’s activities person revealed their information harvesting efforts astatine different agencies, Rep. Connolly’s missive is the archetypal to allege that DOGE, the government-shrinking bureau founded by Elon Musk and present wreaking havoc crossed the national government, is pooling everyone’s information into 1 elephantine database. 

“I person agelong championed efforts to amended information sharing crossed the authorities to combat improper payments and to summation authorities efficiency,” Connolly wrote. “But immoderate efforts to betterment our existent systems indispensable beryllium undertaken with the utmost sensitivity and interest for privacy, security, and the Social Security payments that millions of radical trust on.”

The privateness implications of this cross-agency database would not lone interruption galore privateness laws and origin cybersecurity risks, but could besides go a potent limb for whomever tin entree said database: it could beryllium utilized by the authorities to behaviour wide surveillance of whomever they wished to target, specified arsenic immigrants, oregon go a people for extracurricular actors seeking a trove of backstage and idiosyncratic data. Either way, “it’s terrifying,” John Davisson, elder counsel and manager of litigation astatine the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told Nextgov, adding that this was precisely what the Privacy Act was expected to prevent. “Aggregation of information is gathering a weapon, essentially, and it’s 1 that tin beryllium utilized successful a batch of antithetic ways.”