john soley The DOGE worker, a software program engineer and former member of the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), is going through whistleblower expenses for allegedly telling colleagues he had confidential Social Safety Administration (SSA) knowledge on a thumb drive and needed to share that info together with his new employer, a number of sources advised WIRED.
Since October, Solly has labored as chief expertise officer for the well being IT division of a authorities contractor known as Leidos, in accordance with a replica of his resume. The corporate already has thousands and thousands of SSA contracts beneath its belt and will obtain as much as $1.5 billion in contracts with SSA beneath a five-year settlement signed in 2023. Solly’s private web site and LinkedIn are offline as of this week.
In response to a request for remark, Solly, by way of his lawyer, denied involvement in any wrongdoing. A Leidos spokesperson additionally mentioned the corporate had discovered no proof to assist the whistleblower’s allegations in opposition to Solly.
Solly was considered one of 12 DOGE crew members at SSA who, in accordance with her resume on her private web site, “supported different DOGE engineers on initiatives equivalent to digital SSN, dying grasp file cleanup,” and SSN verification API (EDEN 2.0). The “Loss of life Grasp File” is an SSA database containing thousands and thousands of Social Safety data of deceased individuals that’s maintained to make sure that their identities can’t be used for fraud. APIs (Software Programming Interfaces) permit completely different applications to speak with one another and acquire knowledge and data from one another. On this case, authorities businesses and businesses aside from SSA might have entry to Social Safety knowledge.
The allegations have been made in a grievance filed with the SSA’s inner watchdog, which was first reported by The Washington Put up earlier this week, which didn’t identify Solly or Leidos. The grievance, filed with the SSA’s Workplace of Inspector Basic earlier this 12 months, alleges {that a} former DOGE worker advised colleagues that he had made copies of the SSA’s Numerical Identification System (NUMIDENT) and the “Loss of life Grasp File,” in accordance with the newspaper. NUMIDENT is the grasp SSA database that accommodates all info contained within the Social Safety Quantity software, together with identify, date of beginning, race, and different personally identifiable info.
Within the grievance, the whistleblower alleges {that a} former DOGE worker requested him to assist switch a set of knowledge from a thumb drive to a pc so he may “sanitize” it earlier than importing it to be used by a non-public firm, the newspaper reported. The grievance states that the previous DOGE worker said that he anticipated to obtain a presidential pardon if his actions have been unlawful.
Mr. Solly “doesn’t share, entry, or view any Personally Identifiable Info (PII) maintained by SSA, together with SSA’s Loss of life Grasp File (DMF) or Numerical Identification System (Numident). The claims made by purported nameless sources are obviously false and defamatory. Mr. Solly will take all acceptable steps to clear his good identify and stellar repute,” mentioned Seth Waxman, Solly’s lawyer. “He’s assured {that a} truthful overview of the info and circumstances surrounding these false allegations will totally exonerate him.”
Leidos is SSA’s prime contractor. From 2010 to 2018, the corporate introduced in thousands and thousands of {dollars} in SSA IT contracts. In 2018, Leidos signed contracts value as much as $639 million for IT assist providers and incapacity claims processing. In 2023, the corporate introduced it had received an estimated $1.5 billion IT contract with the company. As a part of DOGE’s blitzkrieg on the U.S. authorities in early 2025, Leidos, like many authorities contractors, had a few of its contracts lower.
