Federal officials are now acknowledging that a controversial government tech team tied to Elon Musk may have crossed lines while handling sensitive Social Security data. The Justice Department disclosed in newly filed court documents that two members of Musk’s DOGE team working inside the Social Security Administration had undisclosed communications with an advocacy group seeking to “overturn election results in certain states.” One of those team members also signed a “Voter Data Agreement” that may have involved using Social Security data to compare against state voter rolls.
Elizabeth Shapiro, a senior Justice Department official, revealed that SSA referred both DOGE employees for potential Hatch Act violations, which prohibit federal workers from using their positions for political activity. Her disclosure appeared in a set of “corrections” submitted after earlier testimony during legal disputes over DOGE’s access to Social Security data.
Those corrections also acknowledged that DOGE personnel shared data using unapproved third-party servers and may have accessed information that courts had explicitly barred them from viewing at the time. Shapiro wrote that these findings complicate SSA’s earlier claim that DOGE’s mission was limited to identifying fraud, waste, and abuse while modernizing agency systems.
“SSA believed those statements to be accurate at the time they were made, and they are largely still accurate,” Shapiro wrote. She added, “At this time, there is no evidence that SSA employees outside of the involved members of the DOGE Team were aware of the communications with the advocacy group. Nor were they aware of the ‘Voter Data Agreement.’”
While investigators have not confirmed whether data was actually shared, Shapiro said emails “suggest that DOGE Team members could have been asked to assist the advocacy group by accessing SSA data to match to the voter rolls.”
The filing also revealed that a senior DOGE adviser was copied on an email containing a password-protected file with private information tied to roughly 1,000 people. It remains unclear if the file was ever accessed. In other instances, DOGE members briefly retained access to restricted Social Security profiles after court orders prohibited it.
“It is unknown at this time whether any [private information] was accessed,” Shapiro stated.
The White House and SSA declined to comment as scrutiny around DOGE’s data practices continues to intensify.
