In my previous post, I talked about inconsistencies in the reporting about what DOGE is doing and can do. I wrote the article on March 9 and had it appear publicly early on March 10, following my usual practice. About the time it appeared, I came upon a Washington Post article that linked to a detailed court filing that helps to clarify things. It’s a terrifying story, so here’s another post on the same day.
The document is by Tiffany Flick, who recently was Acting Chief of Staff at the Social Security Administration. She is now retired; the Post says she was “forced out.” It’s signed under oath, and I’m provisionally assuming her statements are factually correct. I’m not addressing whether DOGE was investigating any legitimate concerns. My concern here is how people from outside the SSA got sweeping access to confidential data.
The first step Flick mentions was a call to her from Leland Dudek, who was then a senior adviser in the SSA’s Office of Program Integrity. He said that Michael Russo and Scott Coulter, whom Flick refers to as DOGE associates, would be working for SSA, and that DOGE had requested an immediate meeting. Flick told him to break off communication with DOGE, but the hire of Russo went through and his onboarding process began the next day. He became Chief Information Officer on February 3. She doesn’t say exactly who hired him, though it seems to be Dudek. Coulter arrived a couple of weeks later.
Russo requested the hiring of a software engineer named Akash Bobba, also associated with DOGE. People associated with the Presidential Personnel Office and Office of Personnel Management made calls pressuring the SSA to give Bobba the equipment and credentials needed to access SSA data by February 10, which required greatly rushing the normal process of vetting. Bobba was sworn in on the evening of February 10 “over the phone, contrary to standard practice.” His subsequent security training was done “in a truncated manner and outside normal processes.” Flick said in her document, “I do not believe Mr. Bobba had a sufficient understanding of the sensitive nature of SSA data or the ways to ensure such data’s confidentiality.”
Nonetheless, Flick granted access to anonymized and sandboxed data. Bobba worked offsite from OPM, and Flick expressed doubts that he was properly protecting the data from others working near him.
Here’s where things really start to blow up. “Mr. Russo and other DOGE officials demanded that Bobba be given immediate, full access to SSA data in the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW), which included Numident [SSN records and associated personal data] files, the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) files, and the Supplemental Security Record (SSR) files.” That’s a large pile of personally identifiable, confidential information on most of the population of the USA. Russo allegedly said that Bobba should even be given access to the source code. The federal Chief Information Officer in the OMB said Bobba should have the access to the files.
On February 14, Dudek was placed on administrative leave “while an administrative investigation was conducted regarding allegations of multiple inappropriate actions.” Dudek reportedly admitted that he “bullied agency executives … and circumvented the chain of command.”
On February 16, Trump named Dudek Acting Commissioner of the SSA. He still holds that position as I’m writing this. He granted Bobba access to “at least the EDW and possibly other databases.”
The picture is still out of focus in places, but we can see the pattern. Trump puts stooges in positions where they can hire more stooges or put pressure on agencies to carry out DOGE’s demands. People who oppose them face increasing pressure till they quit in disgust, creating openings for more stooges. One of the aims is to collect lots of information on everybody.
For what purpose? Finding people to kick out of the USA, perhaps. Homeland Security tried to get the addresses of suspected illegal immigrants from the IRS, which would have violated security policies and probably broken laws. Confidential information could also be used to intimidate, blackmail, or discredit critics and opponents.
DOGE can’t do anything on its own. It’s the network of Trump puppets in OPM, OMB, and other agencies with broad powers that give him a foot in the door at agencies which possess the information he wants. If he achieves his goals, it won’t matter who wins the 2028 election. He’ll have the federal government so thoroughly infiltrated that he or his successors will be able to pull all the strings.