Charles Borges warned that Department of Government Efficiency staff were stealing millions of Americans' personal data from Social Security databases, got forced out of his job for it, then was proven completely right by the federal government.
The decorated Navy veteran lost his career as the Social Security Administration's chief data officer for trying to protect 300 million Americans' most sensitive information.
Borges filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that DOGE staff compromised Americans' personal information by using vulnerable cloud servers. The data included names, phone numbers, addresses, birth dates, parents' names and Social Security numbers from the agency's core identification database.
DOGE officials had been accessing this information despite repeated court orders prohibiting them from doing so.
The Data Breach Details
The stolen information came from the Numerical Identification System database, which contains the personal details of every Social Security card applicant. Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old DOGE software engineer, was given access to the server containing this data.
DOGE team members also signed agreements to analyze state voter rolls for political advocacy groups, without the knowledge of regular Social Security employees.
Retaliation and Resignation
The Social Security Administration retaliated against Borges for his warnings. He was forced to resign on Aug. 29, stating the agency's actions made his duties "impossible to perform legally and ethically" and caused him "serious mental, physical, and emotional distress."
Other Social Security employees described a climate of fear. "Everyone is afraid to get fired at any moment," one employee said, calling Borges' description of intimidation accurate.
Government Admits He Was Right
On January 16th, the Department of Justice filed a Notice of Corrections confirming that DOGE personnel had mishandled data using third-party servers unknown to Social Security leadership.
"It's disappointing to be proven right," Borges told NPR in response. "Yes, it's validating, but it's also disappointing because it puts American public data at risk."
Borges served 22 years in the Navy, including deployment during 9/11, and was awarded the Air Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device for his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom.