John Solly Is the DOGE Operative Accused of Planning to Take Social Security Data to His New Job

John Solly, a software program engineer and former member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is the DOGE operative reportedly accused in a whistleblower grievance of telling colleagues that he saved delicate Social Safety Administration (SSA) knowledge on a thumb drive and wished to share the knowledge along with his new employer, a number of sources inform WIRED.

Since October, in accordance with a replica of his résumé, Solly has labored because the chief know-how officer for the well being IT division of a authorities contractor referred to as Leidos, which has already acquired hundreds of thousands in SSA contracts and will obtain as much as $1.5 billion in contracts with SSA based mostly on a five-year deal it signed in 2023. Solly’s private web site and LinkedIn have been taken offline as of this week.

Responding to a request for remark, Solly, by means of his authorized counsel, denied partaking in any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Leidos additionally mentioned the corporate discovered no proof supporting the whistleblower’s claims towards Solly.

Solly was one in all 12 DOGE team members at SSA, the place, in accordance with the résumé on his private web site, he supported “different DOGE engineers on initiatives together with Digital SSN, Loss of life Grasp File cleanup,” and “SSN verification API (EDEN 2.0).” The “dying grasp file” is an SSA database containing hundreds of thousands of Social Safety information of deceased folks and is maintained in order that their identities can’t be used for fraud. An API, or utility programming interface, permits completely different packages to speak to one another, together with pulling knowledge and knowledge from one another. On this case, it may enable Social Safety knowledge to be accessed by businesses and establishments outdoors of SSA.

The allegation was revealed in a grievance filed to SSA’s inner watchdog first reported earlier this week by The Washington Post, which didn’t identify Solly or Leidos. In line with the Publish, the grievance was filed with the SSA’s Workplace of the Inspector Common earlier this yr and alleges that the previous DOGE worker informed coworkers he took copies of the SSA’s Numerical Identification System, or NUMIDENT, in addition to the “dying grasp file.” NUMIDENT is a grasp SSA database containing all data included in a Social Safety quantity utility, together with full names, start dates, race, and extra personally identifiable data.

Within the grievance, in accordance with the Publish, a whistleblower alleges that the previous DOGE worker sought assist transferring a set of knowledge from a thumb drive to a private pc so he may “sanitize” it earlier than importing it to be used at a private-sector firm. The previous DOGE worker allegedly mentioned that he anticipated to obtain a presidential pardon if his actions had been illegal, the grievance reportedly said.

Solly “didn’t share, entry, or view any personally identifiable data (PII) maintained by SSA, together with SSA’s Loss of life Grasp File (DMF) and Numerical Identification System (Numident). The allegations made by a supposedly nameless supply are obviously false and slanderous. Mr. Solly will take all acceptable steps to clear his good identify and stellar popularity,” says Seth Waxman, who’s representing Solly. “He’s sure that any honest assessment of the information and circumstances surrounding these spurious allegations will absolutely exonerate him.”

Leidos is a serious contractor for SSA. Between 2010 and 2018, the corporate introduced in millions of dollars in SSA IT contracts. In 2018, Leidos was awarded contracts probably price as much as $639 million for IT help providers and processing incapacity claims. In 2023, the corporate introduced that it had been awarded an estimated $1.5 billion IT contract with the agency. As a part of DOGE’s blitz into the US authorities in early 2025, Leidos, like many government contractors, saw some of its contracts cut.