Presidential Order On Succession At SSA

The President has issued an order setting forth the following succession order in case the position of Commissioner of Social Security is vacant:

• Deputy Commissioner of Social Security
• Chief of Staff
• Deputy Commissioner for Operations
• Regional Commissioner, Philadelphia
• Regional Commissioner, Dallas

One has to wonder why the existing plan was pulled out of the drawer, dusted off and altered. It is hard to imagine anyone bothering with this unless there was a real chance that the plan would be needed in coming months, such as in January 2007 when Commissioner Barnhart's term ends.