Social Security data chief resigns, denouncing "intolerable" environment at agency
The former director claimed that the work environment even affected his physical and emotional health.
A Social Security Administration building.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) chief data officer, Charles Borges, submitted his resignation Friday, just days after formally warning of serious failures in the security of the agency's information systems. In a letter to administrator Frank Bisignano, Borges warned that sensitive data on millions of Americans had been uploaded to a cloud environment with vulnerabilities that he said could expose personal information to unauthorized access.
Whistleblowing and a culture of fear
In his letter, Borges detailed that he detected projects and decisions that may have violated federal regulations and compromised the safeguarding of high-value assets within the cloud. He also claimed that the current leadership of the agency created an environment of fear among workers, where voicing concerns could translate into retaliation or dismissal.
According to his testimony, even formal requests for information about questionable activities were rejected or ignored by the SSA leadership. Borges claimed that this situation left him without the ability to ensure that data were used in compliance with legal agreements and current federal regulations.
Warnings about DOGE
The now former official took direct aim at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an agency created to combat waste and mismanagement. According to Borges, this agency transferred sensitive Social Security information to technological environments without the minimum guarantees of protection.
Official silence
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