A whistleblower from within a key U.S. labor agency has stepped forward with serious accusations that Elon Musk’s technology team may have been involved in a major cybersecurity breach. According to the complaint, sensitive legal data may have been improperly accessed and removed from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—a federal agency that oversees and enforces labor rights in the United States.
The explosive claims come from Daniel Berulis, an information technology staffer at the NLRB, who alleges that an external tech team linked to Musk, known as U.S. DOGE Service, was granted unusually deep access to the agency’s internal systems. Berulis claims this access potentially enabled the unauthorized extraction of about 10 gigabytes of data, including confidential affidavits, business information, and sensitive legal documents.
The allegations were made public by Whistleblower Aid, a legal organization that helps protect individuals who expose misconduct. Berulis’s sworn affidavit was sent directly to Senate Intelligence Committee leaders—Republican Chairman Tom Cotton and Democratic Vice Chairman Mark Warner—raising the stakes at the highest levels of government.
An Agency Under Fire—and Now Under Threat?
The NLRB, created during the Great Depression to safeguard workers’ rights to unionize and challenge unfair labor practices, has often found itself at odds with powerful corporate interests. In recent years, business leaders, including Musk, have openly criticized the agency, and some have even pushed for its authority to be curtailed or eliminated altogether.
Berulis claims that in this already hostile environment, the decision to allow U.S. DOGE Service into the NLRB’s IT systems created a perfect storm for misuse. The tech team was reportedly granted access far beyond what’s considered normal or safe in a federal agency environment. The systems involved house delicate information on union efforts, employer violations, and pending labor cases.
Evidence of Tampering and Unusual Data Activity
In his affidavit, Berulis says he began noticing irregularities in the system logs starting in early March. Protocols designed to track user activity were apparently altered—effectively masking digital footprints. Then came the data spike. Around 10 gigabytes of information vanished from the network, something he described as “highly abnormal.”
He explained to Reuters that such a volume of data rarely, if ever, leaves the NLRB systems in one go. The missing information reportedly included internal communications, case documents, and details from companies under federal investigation for unfair labor practices.
Suspected Russian IP Activity Raises Alarm
Adding to the concern, Berulis said he detected login attempts from an IP address based in Russia shortly after the U.S. DOGE Service team accessed the systems. According to him, these login attempts were made using what appeared to be valid usernames and passwords, but they were blocked by the NLRB’s security due to location-based restrictions.
While it’s unclear if the Russian access attempts were related to the alleged data breach, the timing and the sophistication of the login efforts have fueled suspicions of a deeper and potentially international dimension to the security incident.
Obstruction, Retaliation, and a Culture of Fear
The whistleblower’s efforts to escalate the issue internally were reportedly stonewalled. Berulis says that when he and a colleague tried to inform the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), they were stopped by higher-ups at the NLRB without explanation. This abrupt shutdown of the internal reporting process left him concerned not just for the data, but for his personal safety.
That concern became chillingly real when Berulis received a threatening note taped to his front door. The note included surveillance photos of him walking near his home—images he believes were captured by a drone. Whistleblower Aid’s legal counsel, Andrew Bakaj, included this incident in his filing to lawmakers, underscoring the risks faced by those trying to speak out.
Silence from Musk’s Team and the NLRB
As of now, neither Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service nor the NLRB has issued any formal response to the allegations. A request for comment to Musk’s team went unanswered. Meanwhile, NPR, which first reported the story, cited an NLRB spokesperson who denied that a breach had taken place—directly contradicting Berulis’s claims.
Senators Cotton and Warner have also yet to publicly address the whistleblower’s report.
For now, Berulis says he remains deeply concerned about the safety of sensitive information—and of those who dare to protect it.
“There’s a real fear in trying to do the right thing,” he told Reuters. “And the more we try to raise the alarm, the more we’re pushed out.”
