The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration, accusing the agencies of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The lawsuit alleges that the departments did not comply with FOIA requests for information about the "Department of Government Efficiency's" (DOGE) "secretive" attempts to access Americans' sensitive information from federal databases.
That sensitive data included personally identifiable information, financial records, health care data or other sensitive government-held records of Americans, the ACLU said.
RELATED STORY | Secretary Doug Collins outlines a plan for 'streamlining' care at Veterans Affairs
According to the ACLU, it filed a FOIA request with dozens of federal agencies in February, asking for records that would reveal whether or not DOGE has sought or obtained access to sensitive data. The organization also requested information on DOGE's use of artificial intelligence to analyze government data.
The ACLU said it asked for expedited processing of its FOIA requests, feeling that they were urgent, and other agencies reportedly granted the organization's requests — including the Department of Defense, Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services.
RELATED STORY | AmeriCorps members who respond to disasters and help nonprofits are let go in DOGE cuts
However, the ACLU said the SSA and the VA declined the requests.
“The federal government cannot dodge accountability by ignoring our lawful demands for transparency,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, in a statement. “The American people have an urgent need to know if their private financial, medical, and personal records are being illegally accessed, analyzed, or weaponized by Trump's unaccountable team of unvetted outsiders. This is doubly true for our seniors and veterans, who are at particular risk if their data has been accessed illegally.”
The agencies have not publicly commented on the lawsuit.
