On January 16, 2026, SSA publicly acknowledged that Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) affiliated employees at the agency had engaged in deeply concerning conduct.
Specifically, SSA indicated that one unidentified DOGE affiliate may have shared protected data with DOGE affiliates outside the agency, and an unidentified DOGE affiliate also signed a “Voter Data Agreement” with an “advocacy group.” SSA also acknowledged that DOGE affiliates had used an unapproved, third-party server—Cloudflare—to share SSA data.
6. SSA’s acknowledgments left numerous open questions about the conduct of DOGE affiliates at SSA, how the agency discovered these improper actions, and what other harm DOGE affiliates may have caused. These revelations generated substantial press coverage and multiple Congressional inquiries. Additionally, evidence recently emerged that DOGE affiliates systematically used Signal and other non-official messaging systems to communicate about government business, particularly with other DOGE employees and officials.
DOGE affiliates systematically used Signal and other non-official messaging systems7. On information and belief, DOGE-affiliated staff used non-official electronic messaging accounts to communicate about government business.
8. The concerns raised by SSA’s incomplete disclosures raise urgent questions about improper conduct at the agency that may affect the integrity of upcoming elections through the unlawful disclosure of protected personal information to outside entities and other unlawful, political conduct by SSA employees.
8. On January 22, 2026, DFF sent a FOIA request to SSA seeking the following: All electronic communications (including emails, email attachments, complete email chains, calendar invitations, or attachments thereto, as well as any text messages or messages sent on messaging platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Signal, or GChat) between (A) any SSA officials listed below and the following (B) external groups and individuals.
A. SSA Officials:
a. Antonio Gracias;
b. Payton Rehling;
c. Jon Koval;
d. Any other members of the SSA Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) team
B. External groups and individuals:
a. True the Vote (including, but not limited to truethevote.org)
b. Catherine Engelbrecht (including, but not limited to catherine [at] truethevote.org (catherine[at]truethevote[dot]org), Catherine [at] truethevote.org (Catherine[at]truethevote[dot]org))
c. Gregg Phillips
d. James Bopp
e. Any representative or employee of the political advocacy group referenced in the SSA’s recent representations through counsel to a federal court
29. This request sought records from January 20, 2025, until the date of the search.
32. On March 9, 2026, SSA informed DFF that because of “unusual circumstances,” specifically “the need for consultation with another agency,” SSA needed to extend the time limit to respond to this request, citing 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B)(iii). SSA informed DFF that it will receive further correspondence from SSA by no later than April 8, 2026.
36. DFF has received no subsequent communication from SSA regarding this FOIA request.
48. On January 27, 2026, DFF sent a FOIA request to SSA seeking the following: All electronic communications (including emails, email attachments, complete email chains, calendar invitations, or attachments thereto, as well as any text messages or messages sent on messaging platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Signal, or GChat) between (A) any SSA officials listed below and the following (B) external groups and individuals.
A. SSA Officials:
a. Antonio Gracias;
b. Payton Rehling;
c. Jon Koval;
d. Any other members of the SSA Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) team
B. External groups and individuals:
a. We the People USA Alliance (including, but not limited to wtpalliance.org)
b. Election Integrity Network (“EIN”) (including, but not limited to whoscounting.us; electionintegritynetwork.org, electionintegrity.network)
c. Cleta Mitchell, Chair of EIN (including, but not limited to cletamitchell.com, conservativepartnership.org)
d. Citizen Election Research Center (“CERC”) (including, but not limited to citizenselectionresearchcenter.org)
e. EagleAI Network (eagleai.pro)
f. Virginia Institute for Public Policy (including, but not limited to virginiainstitute.org)
g. Only Citizens Vote Coalition (onlycitizensvotecoalition.com)
h. Sharon P. Bemis, President of EIN
i. Kerri Toloczko, EIN
j. Sara Vieira, EIN
k. Kathy Harms, EIN
l. Ned Jones, EIN
m. Julie Adams, Georgia Election Integrity Network
n. North Carolina Election Integrity Team (nceit.org)
o. Patrice Johnson, Michigan Election Integrity Network
52. On March 10, 2026, SSA informed DFF that because of “unusual circumstances,” specifically “the need for consultation with another agency,” SSA needed to extend the time limit to respond to this request, citing 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B)(iii). SSA informed DFF that it will receive further correspondence from SSA by no later than April 9, 2026.
Lambert here: “Unusual circumstances.” Do tell. And why not name the “other agency”? Are they spooks?
57. As of the date of this Complaint, Defendant has failed to notify DFF of determinations regarding the FOIA requests described herein and of DFF’s requests for fee waivers described herein. Through Defendant’s failure to respond within the time limits required by law, DFF has constructively exhausted administrative remedies.
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