John Solly, a software program engineer and former member of the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity (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 needed to share the data along with his new employer, a number of sources inform WIRED.
Since October, in line with a duplicate of his résumé, Solly has labored because the chief expertise officer for the well being IT division of a authorities contractor known 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 primarily based 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 his authorized counsel, denied participating in any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Leidos additionally stated the corporate discovered no proof supporting the whistleblower’s claims in opposition to Solly.
Solly was one in all 12 DOGE workforce members at SSA, the place, in line 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 “loss of life grasp file” is an SSA database containing hundreds of thousands of Social Safety data 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 applications to speak to one another, together with pulling knowledge and data from one another. On this case, it might permit Social Safety knowledge to be accessed by companies and establishments exterior of SSA.
The allegation was revealed in a grievance filed to SSA’s inside watchdog first reported earlier this week by The Washington Publish, which didn’t title Solly or Leidos. In line with the Publish, the grievance was filed with the SSA’s Workplace of the Inspector Basic 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 “loss of life grasp file.” NUMIDENT is a grasp SSA database containing all info included in a Social Safety quantity utility, together with full names, delivery dates, race, and extra personally identifiable info.
Within the grievance, in line with the Publish, a whistleblower alleges that the previous DOGE worker sought assist transferring a set of information from a thumb drive to a private laptop so he might “sanitize” it earlier than importing it to be used at a private-sector firm. The previous DOGE worker allegedly stated that he anticipated to obtain a presidential pardon if his actions have been illegal, the grievance reportedly acknowledged.
Solly “didn’t share, entry, or view any personally identifiable info (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 title and stellar fame,” says Seth Waxman, who’s representing Solly. “He’s sure that any honest evaluation of the information and circumstances surrounding these spurious allegations will totally exonerate him.”
Leidos is a serious contractor for SSA. Between 2010 and 2018, the corporate introduced in hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in SSA IT contracts. In 2018, Leidos was awarded contracts doubtlessly price as much as $639 million for IT help companies and processing incapacity claims. In 2023, the corporate introduced that it had been awarded an estimated $1.5 billion IT contract with the company. As a part of DOGE’s blitz into the US authorities in early 2025, Leidos, like many authorities contractors, noticed a few of its contracts minimize.
