FTA:

Software engineers with no government experience, some in their early 20s, have clashed with career civil servants at multiple agencies where DOGE has sought--and in some cases received--access to systems containing sensitive data on federal employees, government payments, taxpayer information and a sensitive child-support database.

"I witnessed a disregard for critical processes--like providing the least privileged' access based on a need to know'--and lack of interest in understanding our systems and programs," Flick said in her 13-page declaration, written under oath.

"That combined with the significant loss of expertise as more and more agency personnel leave, have me seriously concerned that SSA programs will continue to function and operate without disruption."

If Social Security's long-standing information security policies and procedures continue to be ignored by the DOGE team, Flick wrote, "That could result in benefits not being paid out or delays in payments. ... The stakes are high."

Flick said it's not existing fraud, but the DOGE approach to taxpayers' data that may infect the system with fraud.

I won't believe anything Musk says about fraud and abuse in the SSA unless someone else documents it. I fear he will corrupt and crash the Social Security system before anyone can stop him.

The first DOGE aide embedded at the SSA was Michael Russo, a former executive at a payment processing company that worked for Musk's satellite company Starlink. He was named as the agency's chief information officer (CIO) on February 3. Not long after his induction, Russo began urging senior SSA executives to accept Musk's deferred resignation offer, according to Flick.

He also pressured the agency to quickly onboard Akash Bobba, a 22-year-old software engineer who works for DOGE. "I worked for multiple SSA commissioners across multiple administrations, and that request was unprecedented," Flick wrote in an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. "I did not understand the apparent urgency with which Mr. Bobba needed to be onboarded and given access to SSA's systems and data, which are highly sensitive."

As for Bobba, Russo demanded that he be given "full access to SSA data in the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW)," according to Flick. The EDW contains sensitive information on every individual assigned a Social Security number, including employment history, marital status, a list of dependents, and banking and financial information. Gaining full access to the system would provide users with the ability to export and edit data. "Russo repeatedly stated that Mr. Bobba needed access to everything, including source code,'" wrote Flick, who described such an arrangement as unprecedented even for the agency's most adept technologists. There were also concerns within the SSA about Bobba accessing the data remotely from a U.S. Office of Personnel Management workplace surrounded by other DOGE aides and White House staffers.

FYI: Before some low information voter wanders into this thread quoting the latest Musk lie regarding social security:

Peter Baker
@peterbakernyt.bsky.social

Musk claims Social Security is a "gigantic magnet to attract illegal immigrants."

In fact, immigrants here illegally do not collect Social Security. But they pay $25.7 billion a year into it, a recent study found, so these undocumented workers are actually subsidizing Americans.