Whistleblower on DOGE Had Brakes Cut

On April 14, 2025, Dan Berulis, an IT specialist at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), submitted a Congressional whistleblower complaint containing an alarming allegation: the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had likely compromised the agency’s data and appeared to be moving it outside NLRB systems. Even more disturbing, Berulis claimed that within minutes of DOGE members accessing the data, login attempts were detected originating from an IP address in Russia.

At that time, DOGE teams,directed by billionaire Elon Musk,were sweeping through federal agencies, firing workers and accessing sensitive technical systems without oversight or transparency.

The next day, Berulis went public in an NPR article, revealing his name and the details of his claim. He also stated that before his disclosure, a threatening note had been taped to his door, including photographs of him walking his dog that appeared to have been taken by a drone. Already fearful that speaking out had made him a target, Berulis soon faced an even more direct threat.

In a defamation lawsuit filed in a DC court on April 17 and made public this week, Berulis alleges that Musk himself escalated the danger by falsely declaring that Berulis’ whistleblower claim was fake. The complaint was initially filed under seal because Berulis holds a security clearance requiring pre-publication review of any work-related material.

Five days after the NPR article appeared,on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025,Berulis got into his car to visit his uncle in Maryland, choosing local roads over the nearby highway. Within five minutes of leaving home, he realized something was wrong. Approaching a stop sign, his car refused to slow down. He ran off the road and crashed into the sign. When he inspected the vehicle, he discovered a horrifying truth: his brake lines had been cut.

Unbeknownst to Berulis at the time, the night before, at 8:06 pm on April 19, Musk had reshared an X post from right-wing influencer Mario Nawfal, which claimed DOGE had been “cleared” and that people were asking the Department of Justice to investigate Berulis. Musk added his own comment: “Filing a deliberately false whistleblower claim is a serious crime.” The story had originated from @amuse, an account known for spreading misleading claims and misinformation, followed by influential figures like Musk and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. That post included Berulis’ name and photograph.

According to a police report obtained by WIRED, when a Prince William County officer arrived at the crash scene, Berulis’ lawyer from Whistleblower Aid, Andrew Bakaj,who had helped him file the Congressional complaint,was also present.

After learning about Musk’s tweet, Berulis connected it to the threatening note left on his door earlier that month. The lawsuit argues that Musk’s “readers drew the implication” that Berulis had committed a serious crime, “as reflected in replies demanding prosecution, jail, harm, or arrest,” placing him at “increased risk of physical harm.” In the replies to the still-visible post, multiple users called for prosecution. One wrote, “Snitches get stitches.”

“The correlation was obvious to me, with the timing,” Berulis says. He also began to worry about how whoever threatened him knew where he lived.