Democracy Forward filed an amended complaint and motion for emergency relief to halt any DOGE access to SSA information about millions of Americans in the agency’s systems last week. They sued last month alongside two unions and a retiree advocacy group, alleging that DOGE’s access to SSA data violates laws like the Privacy Act. It’s one of many lawsuits related to DOGE access to sensitive government systems and data.
Among the new court documents is a declaration from Tiffany Flick, a retired SSA employee who worked at the agency for almost 30 years and served most recently as the acting chief of staff to former acting head of SSA Michelle King.
Flick alleged that DOGE associates pressured her and King to flout agency norms and processes to quickly give DOGE access to agency systems and data.
“I witnessed a disregard for critical processes — like providing the ‘least privilege’ access based on a ‘need to know’ — and a lack of interest in understanding our systems and programs,” according to her declaration. “That combined with the significant loss of expertise as more and more personnel leave, have me seriously concerned that SSA programs will continue to function and operate without disruption.”
Flick and King both left suddenly in February after resisting pressure from DOGE to hand over access to SSA data and systems when a mid-level employee formerly focused on anti-fraud efforts, Leland Dudek, was placed in the acting head role. At the time, he was on administrative leave because of allegations that he had ..
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