A whistleblower has come forward with alarming claims that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a unit linked to Elon Musk, may have been involved in a major data breach at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Daniel Berulis, an IT specialist at the NLRB, alleges that DOGE staff gained full access to the agency’s internal systems in early March and during that period, logging features were disabled and over 10 gigabytes of sensitive information were extracted.
The leaked data reportedly includes confidential union records, business agreements, and private employee affidavits. Berulis also detected a suspicious login attempt from a Russian IP address using valid credentials—an incident blocked by security protocols. When he tried to alert federal cybersecurity officials at CISA, Berulis says he faced internal roadblocks and was denied access to escalate the issue.
Soon afterward, Berulis received a threatening letter and surveillance photos—including drone images of him walking his dog—raising serious concerns about retaliation and intimidation.
While the NLRB has denied any breach occurred, and DOGE officials declined to comment, the FBI has also remained silent on the matter. The whistleblower’s organization has called for immediate congressional oversight and protection for federal whistleblowers.
This incident comes amid growing fears that DOGE, under Musk’s direction, is overreaching its authority and gaining unchecked access to sensitive data across multiple government agencies. DOGE’s recent attempts to access confidential SEC documents and whistleblower files at OSHA have raised red flags among legal experts and labor advocates.
The ongoing controversy highlights the risks of centralizing government data control under a single, privately influenced entity—and the potential threats to individual privacy and democratic accountability.
