DOGE
In February 2025, it was reported that Moghaddassi was part of a four person team that the Department of Government Efficiency planned to install at the Treasury Department. [11] This team used payment systems at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service to block foreign aid payments issued by USAID, claiming these payments violated an executive order to pause all US foreign assistance despite push back from career officials. [12]
In March 2025, Moghaddassi was interviewed by Bret Baier on Fox News, alongside Elon Musk and six other DOGE staffers (including Steve Davis, Joe Gebbia, and Tom Krause (business executive)|Tom Krause). He spoke about modernizing government IT systems, reducing fraud, and improving customer experience at the SSA. [13] However, portions of the interview featured claims that were later disputed by the Social Security Administration. For instance, Moghaddassi stated that 40% of phone calls made to the agency for changing direct deposit information came from "fraudsters"; the SSA corrected this claim, clarifying that 40% of direct deposit fraud at the agency was associated with phone calls, not that 40% of all calls regarding changes to bank information were made by fraudsters. [14]
In April 2025, it was reported Moghaddassi was working at the Department of Homeland Security on the "DOGE Immigration Task Force", led by Antonio Gracias. [15] Moghaddassi had access to sensitive IT systems at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services where DOGE worked on the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system. [16] [17] Moghaddassi was specifically linked to terminating the Social Security Numbers of ~6,300 parolees who either had criminal records or were on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist. [18] [19] Moghaddassi also held roles at the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Small Business Administration, with access to sensitive IT systems for labor visas, unemployment insurance, Medicare/Medicaid, SBA loans, and grants/contracts management. [20] [21] [22] [23]
SSA leak
On March 15, 2025, Moghaddassi wrote to SSA officials that his granted access to the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s SAVE data system was "absolutely critical to get detailed immigration status for non-citizen SSNs to detect fraud and improper payments". [3] Later that same week, Moghaddassi wrote to Ron DeSantis from a DHS email account asking for access to the state's voting data. [3]
On March 19, 2025, Moghaddassi was named in a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees regarding DOGE's access to IT systems at the Social Security Administration. Social Security officials swore to a federal judge that "members of Elon Musk’s DOGE team never had access to individuals’ personal information held at the agency", despite Moghaddassi's statement previously made four days prior. [24] [25] The plaintiffs were granted a temporary restraining order blocking DOGE's access, but this decision was later overturned in June by the Supreme Court of the United States and DOGE was consequently granted full access to SSA systems. [26] [27] [28]
After the Supreme Court lifted the ban, DOGE transferred a live copy of the country's Social Security database into a cloud server without independent security controls, which was authorized by Moghaddassi. [3] Moghaddassi was formally appointed to be Chief Information Officer at the Social Security Administration that same month. [29] [30]
In August 2025, Moghaddassi was included in a whistleblower complaint, which alleged that DOGE uploaded the Numident database to an insecure cloud server, compromising the data of millions of people. [1] [31] [2] The report was filed by the chief data officer of the SSA, accusing Moghaddassi of "violating agency policies to 'create a live copy of the country’s Social Security information in a cloud environment that circumvents oversight,' in violation of multiple federal statutes". [2] SSA commissioner Frank Bisignano denied these allegations in a public letter to the chair of Senate Finance Committee Mike Crapo. [32] Despite attempt to dispute these claims, the agency confessed in a notice of corrections filed on January 16, 2026 that DOGE staffers had access to sensitive information that it had previously denied. The information was traded amongst DOGE staffers and transferred to a non-Social Security server, which is now inaccessible to the agency. Furthermore, these transfers occurred while a federal court order barred DOGE from any data access. [24] [33] [34]
