Washington D.C. – In a quiet but controversial decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has just greenlit the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access America’s most sensitive citizen database — the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) internal systems — a move critics say could open the door to unprecedented government overreach and privacy violations.

The systems in question hold intimate data on nearly every American alive today — and millions who’ve already passed. We're talking names, birthplaces, social security numbers, bank details, earnings history, immigration status, and even health records. From cradle to grave, it's all there.

DOGE — an agency created by former President Donald Trump with a mandate to "modernize" federal tech — had been blocked by a lower court from accessing SSA's data. That order has now been lifted by the Supreme Court, meaning DOGE can proceed. The court’s liberal justices dissented, warning that the access is “unfettered” and premature.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raised alarms in her dissent:

DOGE claims it needs access to the SSA's vast data bank to root out fraud and waste in government programs. But watchdogs and former SSA officials say the risks are enormous.

Kathleen Romig, a former SSA insider, called it a threat to data security:

Already, DOGE has been accused of sowing chaos in other federal departments, firing career civil servants, and disrupting operations in the name of "efficiency."

One of DOGE’s most prominent backers, billionaire Elon Musk, falsely claimed that SSA is paying benefits to millions of dead people — based on a misunderstood dataset known as the Numident list.
But the SSA's own inspector general has debunked that narrative, confirming that “almost none of those individuals are actually receiving payments.”

Experts warn that uninformed decisions by DOGE could hurt real people. “A simple data mismatch could cut off someone’s benefits,” Romig cautioned.

Accessing SSA’s data has always been tightly controlled. Former officials describe fingerprint checks, background clearances, and rigid protocols just to view anonymized data.

Now, DOGE has access to all of it — under a vague promise not to alter records or interfere with benefits. Acting SSA commissioner Lee Dudek released a statement insisting DOGE can only “read” the data, not change it. But critics remain skeptical.

Privacy advocates say DOGE’s access could violate federal privacy laws, and even enable political abuses of power. The Center on Democracy and Technology says this kind of move is what privacy laws were created to stop.

Meanwhile, DOGE’s presence has already driven out top SSA leaders — including Michelle King, the agency’s acting head, who resigned after DOGE staffers reportedly tried to access restricted files.

This isn’t just a U.S. domestic story. In a world where governments and corporations are increasingly data-hungry, DOGE’s access to one of the world’s richest citizen databases sets a dangerous global precedent.

If an agency like DOGE — with questionable oversight and political ties — can walk into the Social Security vault, what’s stopping other powerful actors from doing the same elsewhere?

As of now, DOGE can read everything about you — your earnings, your health, your family, your death. Whether it stops there is anyone’s guess.


By Wafricnews Desk.