On Thursday, a federal judge issued an order preventing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing systems at the Social Security Administration (SSA) that contain the personal information of millions of Americans.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander from Maryland accused DOGE of conducting what she described as a “fishing expedition” in search of fraud, based on mere suspicion. Judge Hollander remarked that DOGE “never identified or articulated” a specific reason for needing access to the “personal and private data of millions of Americans.”
Judge Hollander noted that granting this access violated several federal privacy laws and highlighted the potential cybersecurity risks involved. According to the court filing, DOGE has 10 staff members stationed at the SSA, of whom seven had access to personally identifiable information within SSA’s data systems. Among the individuals identified by TechCrunch are Akash Bobba and Scott Coulter.
SSA had initially granted DOGE access to their systems, which included sensitive data such as Social Security numbers, medical records, driver’s license numbers, tax information, and other personal details.
