The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration has resigned from her post, after serving the agency for over three decades, in opposition to Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (“DOGE”) attempting to gain access to sensitive data.
The exact nature of what is included within “DOGE’s” search is as yet unknown, but experts have stated that it could be very intrusive of the personal information of millions of Americans.
Michelle King, who was selected by the Trump administration to serve as acting commissioner, refused a request from “DOGE” to access the data, and resigned from her position in protest of their actions. She was replaced by Leland Dudek, a manager at the agency in charge of its anti-fraud office.
Dudek was chosen ahead of dozens of individuals higher up in the chain of command within the agency, perhaps an indication that his selection was based more on loyalty to President Donald Trump and/or Elon Musk than it was on merit, as resignations in other departments within the Trump administration have embarrassingly resulted in next-in-line figures also refusing to go along with the White House’s demands, most notably within the Justice Department last week.
“DOGE” has torn through a number of government agencies and departments, and has breached numerous secure systems, including by gaining access to “top-secret” systems in the Treasury Department.
Critics of “DOGE’s” attempts to enter similar systems within the Social Security office are suggesting that the questionably legal “department” has likely already accessed them.
“There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is,” said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an organization that advocates on behalf of preserving the agency and its work.
Altman added that, given the numerous examples of the Trump administration taking a retributional approach to some of the president’s political opponents, access to Social Security files is incredibly alarming.
“If there is an intent to punish perceived enemies, someone could erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you have earned,” Altman said.
Martin O’Malley, a former Social Security Administration commissioner (as well as former governor of Maryland), also criticized “DOGE’s” actions within the agency, warning that Musk’s team could interrupt the payment service that millions of Americans rely on.
“At this rate, [‘DOGE’] will break it. And they will break it fast, and there will be an interruption of benefits,” O’Malley said to The Washington Post.
“DOGE’s” breach of the Social Security Administration isn’t exactly a surprise — during the 2024 presidential campaign, now-Vice President J.D. Vance indicated that Elon Musk could lead a task force to purportedly audit the agency.
As head of “DOGE,” Musk has already made unfounded claims about Social Security, making attacks against how it’s being managed, which suggests cuts to the program could be coming. For example, during a press conference in the Oval Office last week, Musk said a “cursory examination of Social Security” discovered that there were people receiving benefits from the program that are 150 years old.
“Now, do you know anyone that’s 150? I don’t,” Musk said. “They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. … So that’s a case where I think they’re probably dead.”
But Musk’s claims disregard how the agency is run, and may be more indicative of his and the “DOGE” staff’s ignorance about coding systems used by the Social Security Administration, which utilizes a reference point dating back to 1875 in cases where a specific date may be unknown, a fact-check from Wired noted. Indeed, the agency automatically disenrolls recipients who are over the age of 115, a failsafe to prevent fraud from happening.
Speaking to that publication, former NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake blasted Musk and “DOGE” for failing to take the time to understand systems they’re unfamiliar with.
“DOGE going into all these agencies with largely unfettered access with a wrecking ball and no understanding of the business logic and structure behind the code, database and configured business logic, related payment systems, and integrated decision trees, poses real risks to the privacy and persona-level data of millions of people across all of those records,” Drake said.
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