A federal judge on Thursday issued an order blocking Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing systems at the Social Security Administration (SSA) that store the personal information of millions of Americans.
In the Thursday ruling, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland accused DOGE of being “essentially engaged in a fishing expedition” in search of fraud based on “little more than suspicion.” Hollander said DOGE “never identified or articulated” a reason why it needs access to the “personal and private data of millions of Americans.”
The access, per Hollander, violates several federal privacy laws, and the order warned of cybersecurity risks.
Per the filing, DOGE has 10 staffers at SSA, and seven of those had access to personally identifiable information in SSA’s data systems. TechCrunch has identified several, including Akash Bobba and Scott Coulter.
Hollander said SSA initially granted DOGE access to the systems, which included Social Security numbers, medical records, drivers’ license numbers, tax information, and reams of other personal information.