Trump Admin Faces Backlash Over DOGE Staff Accessing Sensitive Social Security Data

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Amanda Austin
February 19, 2025
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7 minutes read

(Getty Images)

On Tuesday, an NBC News reporter revealed that staff responsible for cutting government workforce positions are accessing sensitive Social Security data, raising alarms about privacy and oversight. President Donald Trump’s initiative to reduce government personnel has targeted the Social Security Administration, leading to the resignation of Acting Commissioner Michelle King.

According to CNN, King, a 30-year veteran of the department, clashed with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) over its demands for access to Americans’ “sensitive information” in the Social Security database. Her resignation underscores growing tensions over the administration’s approach to workforce reductions.

NBC News White House correspondent Garrett Haake told MSNBC host Ali Vitali that similar incidents are occurring across multiple federal agencies. “What’s happening is staffers affiliated with DOGE are onboarding at these different agencies, becoming essentially employees of the Social Security Administration, the IRS, or other departments, and then attempting to gain access to some of these sensitive systems that contain a lot of data about you and me, taxpayers, and benefit recipients across the country,” said Haake.

Trump during a fund-raiser at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Palm Beach, Fla., last year. (Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times)

This has prompted pushback from government employees, who are raising concerns about potential data breaches and unauthorized access to citizens’ private information. “We’ve heard a lot of talk from folks in and around the administration about the reason they are pursuing these tactics,” Haake continued.

MSNBC played a clip of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaking to Fox’s Sean Hannity, asserting that the DOGE team “suspect[s] there are tens of millions of deceased people who are receiving fraudulent Social Security payments.”

However, Haake countered by pointing out that the Social Security system was audited last year, and while some deceased individuals remain on the rolls, “they are not receiving tens of millions of dollars in payouts.” He further noted that the agency’s fraud rate has been consistently below 1% over the past eight years.

“So, some of this, you know, there is certainly money coming out of these systems that needs to be fixed. I think this is something that the administration says DOGE is in there looking for, but they are sort of putting out on the table these claims about enormous fraud before finding the evidence to support it,” Haake concluded. As concerns mount, federal employees and privacy advocates continue to push for transparency in the administration’s handling of Social Security data.