--- title: "Whistleblower Says He Received Threats After Investigating Whether Elon Musk’s Minions Were Stealing Government Data" description: "DOGE thugs may have stolen sensitive union data and corporate secrets when they accessed the government's labor watchdog." date: "2025-04-16" modified: "2025-04-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/whistleblower-threats-elon-musk-doge-data" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "doge" - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "whistleblower" --- # Whistleblower Says He Received Threats After Investigating Whether Elon Musk’s Minions Were Stealing Government Data ![DOGE thugs may have stolen sensitive union data and corporate secrets when they accessed the government's labor watchdog.]() *\Image: Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post via Getty / Futurism\* ## Labor Lawlessness It's no shock that [dedicated union buster Elon Musk]() sicced his minions on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — but the way those churlish youths are handling the agency's data seems extremely suspicious. As [*NPR* reports,]() staffers with the billionaire's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could have stolen corporate secrets, ongoing legal disputes, and private union information when they rifled through the labor watchdog's internal servers earlier this year. According to Daniel Berulis, the NLRB whistleblower who made these damning allegations to Congress and in subsequent interviews with *NPR*, DOGE engineers extracted troves of data from the agency's systems. In his Congressional disclosure, Berulis also claimed that attacks from a Russian IP address occurred within minutes of DOGE gaining access to the NLRB's servers. Internal documentation of the alleged breach attempt and the strange spike in data extraction — an alarming and unusual occurrence at the independent agency, per dozens of experts that *NPR* spoke to — corroborates the whistleblower's story. But the agency's press secretary, Tim Bearese, denies that any such breach occurred and claimed that DOGE neither asked for nor was granted access to NLRB systems in the first place. "I can't attest to what their end goal was or what they're doing with the data," Berulis told *NPR*. "But I can tell you that the bits of the puzzle that I can quantify are scary." ## Hostile Workplace Along with seeming to steal a bunch of data and the very suspicious timing of the breach attempt, the whistleblower was, he claimed in his initial Congressional disclosure, personally targeted as well. After Berulis brought the concerning data movement up internally, someone taped a "threatening note" to his office door that included personal information and birds-eye-view photos of him, seemingly shot with a drone, walking his dog. Though there's ample brazenly unethical and allegedly illegal behavior on display in this second Trump administration, these whistleblower claims are particularly troubling because Musk has had it out for the NLRB — which has also, notably, [accused SpaceX]() of illegal anti-labor practices — since it [forced him in 2021]() to delete an old anti-union tweet. Last year, [SpaceX sued the labor board]() and claimed it was unconstitutional; now, the unelected billionaire seems to have the unchecked power to do what he wants with it. **More on Musk's meddling:** [*Nobel-Winning Scientist Says His Researchers Are Fleeing the Country Because of Trump's Cruelty*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()