John Solly, a software engineer and former member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is the DOGE operative reportedly accused in a whistleblower complaint of telling colleagues that he stored sensitive Social Security Administration (SSA) data on a thumb drive and wanted to share the information with his new employer, multiple sources tell WIRED.

Since October, according to a copy of his résumé, Solly has worked as the chief technology officer for the health IT division of a government contractor called Leidos, which has already received millions in SSA contracts and could receive up to $1.5 billion in contracts with SSA based on a five-year deal it signed in 2023. Solly’s personal website and LinkedIn have been taken offline as of this week.

Responding to a request for comment, Solly, through his legal counsel, denied engaging in any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Leidos also said the company found no evidence supporting the whistleblower’s claims against Solly.

Solly was one of 12 DOGE team members at SSA, where, according to the résumé on his personal website, he supported “other DOGE engineers on initiatives including Digital SSN, Death Master File cleanup,” and “SSN verification API (EDEN 2.0).” The “death master file” is an SSA database containing millions of Social Security records of deceased people and is maintained so that their identities can’t be used for fraud. An API, or application programming interface, allows different programs to talk to each other, including pulling data and information from each other. In this case, it could allow Social Security data to be accessed by agencies and institutions outside of SSA.

The allegation was revealed in a complaint filed to SSA’s internal watchdog first reported earlier this week by The Washington Post, which did not name Solly or Leidos. According to the Post, the complaint was filed with the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General earlier this year and alleges that the former DOGE employee told coworkers he took copies of the SSA’s Numerical Identification System, or NUMIDENT, as well as the “death master file.” NUMIDENT is a master SSA database containing all information included in a Social Security number application, including full names, birth dates, race, and more personally identifiable information.

In the complaint, according to the Post, a whistleblower alleges that the former DOGE employee sought help transferring a set of data from a thumb drive to a personal computer so he could “sanitize” it before uploading it for use at a private-sector company. The former DOGE employee allegedly said that he expected to receive a presidential pardon if his actions were unlawful, the complaint reportedly stated.

Solly “did not share, access, or view any personally identifiable information (PII) maintained by SSA, including SSA’s Death Master File (DMF) and Numerical Identification System (Numident). The allegations made by a supposedly anonymous source are patently false and slanderous. Mr. Solly will take all appropriate steps to clear his good name and stellar reputation,” says Seth Waxman, who is representing Solly. “He is certain that any fair review of the facts and circumstances surrounding these spurious allegations will fully exonerate him.”

Leidos is a major contractor for SSA. Between 2010 and 2018, the company brought in millions of dollars in SSA IT contracts. In 2018, Leidos was awarded contracts potentially worth up to $639 million for IT support services and processing disability claims. In 2023, the company announced that it had been awarded an estimated $1.5 billion IT contract with the agency. As part of DOGE’s blitz into the US government in early 2025, Leidos, like many government contractors, saw some of its contracts cut.

Second is advertiser tools. If you’re a small business, you’re not thinking about all the queries people are going to type in. AI is great at figuring out which keywords to use, what’s the optimal creative, and generating all of that.

The third piece is the most nascent: ads in new experiences. The general philosophy we have is to build a great consumer product, then figure out monetization. Because the business is so strong and healthy, that’s a luxury we have.

What have you learned from experiments around ads in AI Mode?

Ads are always separate from organic results and clearly labeled. If we don’t think any ad is relevant, we don’t show any ads. Probably the biggest principle of all is that ads should be useful.

What [ads in AI Mode] have shown is mostly intuitive things. If it’s relevant, a user will click on it. If not, they won’t.

At Davos, Demis Hassabis said that Google has no plans to bring ads to Gemini. How are you thinking about it now?

The reason we focused on ads in AI Mode and AI Overviews is because we see them as extensions of the Search experience. It’s the most natural place for us to do initial experiments.

I would expect that the learnings that we get from ads in AI Mode would likely carry over to what we might want to do in the Gemini app down the road. We’re able to get all those learnings within a context and a construct that users are already aware of ads. It’s an odd thing to say, but our research shows that users actually like ads within the context of Search. Over time, we’ll figure out what makes sense in the Gemini app.

So you guys aren’t ruling out ads in Gemini completely?

No, we’re not ruling them out. It’s just not where we’ve been focusing.

Gemini is a massive product now—it’s grown quite fast. OpenAI is already trying out ads in ChatGPT. What makes you think Gemini isn’t ready for ads?

We’re super happy with how well it’s growing. I would say it’s more of a prioritization question—what’s the right area to focus right now?

Do you think OpenAI introduced ads too early?

It’s hard for me to say. I think it will really depend on how they do it. What we’ve seen is when we do ads right, it’s accretive to the product experience. But the really critical thing is to do it right, and that means relevance, quality, and not putting ads where users don’t want to see ads.

That’s hard to do. We have over 20 years of experience learning how to do that. It’s less a question of timing and more a question of doing it right, and in a way that’s respectful of users.

Google recently launched Personal Intelligence in Gemini and AI Mode. I imagine advertisers would love to get their hands on that data. How are you thinking about that?

Personal Intelligence is incredibly useful. For example, I was skiing and couldn’t see well through my goggles—it was cloudy out. I asked AI Mode a fairly vague question about what lens I needed for the conditions. From my email, it was able to say which resort I was staying at, which mountain I’d be skiing, and what the weather would be. It also pulled in a receipt my wife had forwarded me for my goggles—turns out she’d bought me an extra lens. It’s like subtle magic.

You never know when you’re going to have to bug out on short notice. The politics of the moment are less than predictable. Disasters never strike on schedule, and few stores stay open for a wildfire or an insurrection. As of early 2026, wildfires and the resulting chaos look especially likely in the American West after record-low snowpack levels in the winter will mean less water in the spring and summer.

That’s why it’s important to make plans well in advance and put together gear for an emergency kit, say experts on disaster preparedness—and to stock up on the essentials that can keep your family healthy and safe in the event of hurricane, flood, earthquake, blizzard, wildfire, or all-too-human failures.

But not every disaster is the same. There are two main scenarios you should keep your family prepared for, says Jonathan Sury, a senior staff associate at Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness.

In some cases, you may have to jump into a car with a go bag, or a bug-out bag, outfitted with the barest essentials, such as a three-day supply of water, purification tablets or water filters, a good flashlight, and batteries. A wildfire might be a good example of this scenario. In others, like a severe snowstorm, you may be left sheltering in place, possibly without tap water or access to the power grid—and in serious need of a good power bank or two.

“You have to think in that mindset of, ‘We could have power out,’” said National Weather Service preparedness lead Charlie Woodrum when we talked in January ahead of a historic winter storm season across much of the United States. “We could lose it for a couple days, or up to even a week, and we also could lose water if pipes freeze or water mains break. You have to plan for both power outages and for the loss of water.”

Here’s how to prepare for a shorter-term emergency—and what to stock up on in advance. This isn’t a survival guide to civil war or the apocalypse, of course. But the advice and gear here should help you and your family safely weather a natural disaster such as a storm, a flood, an earthquake, or a wildfire–not to mention a systemic failure in your water system or power grid.

Also take note of my colleague Adrienne So’s advice that the best form of emergency prep involves getting to know your neighbors, and WIRED’s Guide to Surviving Extreme Weather. More worried about losing your job? Check out WIRED’s guide to a Digital Go Bag for when you’re forced to bug out from work.

Update March 2026: I added advice from National Weather Service Preparedness Lead Charlie Woodrum. We also added air purifiers, a camp stove, a log-splitting wedge, and a filtered water bottle from Clearly Filtered, and added context on both wildfires and cold-weather emergencies. I also updated pricing and descriptions, and swapped out available products where necessary.

What Should You Put in Your Emergency Go Bag?

Often, you have a bit of warning before an emergency lands on your doorstep. But an evacuation order can arrive with unsettling suddenness—and by the time everyone in your area is raiding the local supermarkets for water and purification tablets, it may be too late to secure your own. This is especially true in case of a sudden boil-water notice.

Your list of essential items for your emergency preparedness kit will depend on your circumstances, your family, and your needs. As of October 2025, the Federal Emergency Management Agency keeps an emergency kit checklist on its website. Columbia University also maintains online resources on how to prepare or respond to specific disasters and emergencies, including an online preparedness wizard to help each family understand their own emergency needs.