From the Washington Post:
... In a meeting Tuesday with his senior staff and about 50 legal-aid attorneys and other advocates for the disabled and elderly, acting SSA commissioner Leland Dudek referred to [Elon Musk's] cost-cutting team as “outsiders who are unfamiliar with nuances of SSA programs,” according to a meeting participant’s detailed notes that were obtained by The Washington Post.
“DOGE people are learning and they will make mistakes, but we have to let them see what is going on at SSA,” Dudek told the group, according to the notes. “I am relying on longtime career people to inform my work, but I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions.” ...
On Thursday morning — three hours after the publication of this story — an all-staff email went out to SSA employees informing them they would be prevented “effective today” from accessing certain websites on their government devices, including “online shopping,” “general news” and “sports.” ...
Even some Republicans privately acknowledge discomfort with Dudek, who was appointed as acting commissioner when the career senior executive in the role abruptly retired after refusing his push to give DOGE employees unauthorized access to private data. ...
Meeting with advocates on Tuesday, Dudek sought to cast himself as someone on their side. He described his parents as blue-collar workers with little formal education who divorced when he was young, according to the notes obtained by The Post. His mother was injured and went on disability benefits, he explained. In high school, he would eat leftovers from the school cafeteria trash, he said.
Dudek said the old ways of “setting goals, doing studies, discussion, getting information and data before making decisions” are gone. Those in charge now “will make mistakes, but I need to move them in a direction that is best for SSA,” he said, and asked the advocates for their support. ...
Andrew Biggs, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank, said shrinking Social Security’s roughly $15 billion operating budget would represent just a small fraction of the program’s $1.5 trillion in annual costs.
“If you’re talking about Social Security solvency, this stuff is a drop in the bucket,” Biggs said. “It doesn’t make any sense at all.” ...
Andrew Saul, who served as SSA commissioner in Trump’s first term, said he welcomed the cuts — but he was adamant that without corresponding modernization of the agency’s many aging technology systems, service will suffer.
“You can’t replace all of these people without the proper systems,” Saul said. “And it takes time to develop them.” ...
In interviews, eight employees described chaos and the dissolution of a system they have been proud to serve, fueled by DOGE-led cuts to staff, spending and operating systems.
Wait times for basic phone service have grown, in some cases to hours, according to some employees, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal details. Delays in reviews of disability claims and hearings before administrative law judges are already starting. ...
Meanwhile, supervisors have little time to give guidance or advice, the employee said, because they are constantly pulled into lengthy meetings to dissect the latest guidance from the Trump administration on return-to-office orders, firing of probationary employees and a Musk-led campaign requiring federal workers to send weekly bullet points laying out their accomplishments.
“Morale is in the toilet,” the employee said. “We all know what DOGE wants to do, which is just break us, so they can privatize us.”
Due to a DOGE-driven spending freeze on federal credit cards, some offices can’t pay phone bills, the employee said, while one office was forced last week to cancel three disability hearings because the staff could not use charge cards to pay for interpreters who speak foreign languages or American Sign Language. One claimant has a terminal illness, and another is in danger of losing their house, the employee said. No new hearings have been scheduled.
Meanwhile, a DOGE-led campaign to cancel contracts deemed “wasteful” across the government is also hurting Social Security. The agency lost a contract that paid for medical experts to testify at disability hearings, the employee said, along with another contract for mold removal from offices. ...
As the agency prepares for a mandated return to in-office work, space constraints in some offices have left supervisors to consider assigning employees to work at desks in supply closets, the worker said.
“It’s just chaos, people are terrified, and no one knows anything, including our supervisors,” the employee said. ...
Apparently, access to this blog is being banned through Social Security's web access. Remember, you have cell phones and home computers!
63 comments:
This website was a beacon for me over fifteen years ago as a claimant.
Thank you.
Leland Dudek needs to learn one word…. LAWYER!
“I am relying on longtime career people to inform my work, but I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions.”
False. You're just too much of a coward to push back because you want to stay in their good graces since you know you've burned every other bridge.
Charles - we don’t say it often but thanks for what you do. Your blog provides a window into the real SSA.
Dudek is an absolute clown. Total turd of the lowest caliber. Hope he gets what’s coming to him
He is done in the Federal Government. He better take VERA and go live in the woods.
His actions are the Agency's and the administration. The Agency and/or administration will need to defend anything he is doing as ACOSS, not Dudek personally.
Thank you for the blog Charles and your outstanding coverage. Dudek is in crisis and it’s disappointing to see he can’t develop the back bone and stand up for the American public to protect Social Security.
They banned literally all websites. News, sports, and shopping sites literally covers it all. If there is a single website someone can access other than Google, please let me know lol. And good luck with your cell phone. There is basically anywhere from absolutely terrible to no service in all of the buildings. The place is a prison.
You may appreciate that effective this morning, your blog is now blocked at SSA (along with all news sites).
He has out Dorcas Hardy'ed Dorcas Hardy. He's hell bent on killing the agency.
SSA justified banning the web sites, saying it was to reduce risk and better protect SSA sensitive information ,
More likely they didn't like SSA employees accessing this Charles Hall blog. Or providing timely information to the media about the latest outrage that is taking place at Social Security that day.
All the true experts with a real understanding of SSA and government tell DOGE to not touch the hot plate repeatedly. Yet, they're all walking around with burns on their fingers.
Access to the DOT has also been banned.
@11:04 AM---what is your best guess as to what happens to LeeLee after Frank is confirmed?
apparently the default search news engine MSN works... when you open a new tab or window, you should be able to load the MSN news/sports feed.
Thing is, you can access msn via the tab, still gives full access to sports articles
Work at desks in supply closets? LOL. As if you can set up a desk in a supply closet. They should consider setting up desks in breakrooms, hallways, and even the lobbies before a supply closet is considered a place to work... But for real though, I don't think that many offices have so much staff that they won't have room. We've shrunk in size year after year so are there any offices that are actually fearing there's not enough space?
So every interesting news in that article. I didn’t know the contract to pay medical experts to provide testimony at disability hearings was cancelled. That’s very bad news. But what is catastrophic is the elimination of overtime pay and a hiring freeze at DDS. They are already quitting in droves over there. This decision will only make that much much worse.
The post stated that the contract for medical experts has been canceled and that no new hearings are being scheduled. Vocational experts (VE's) are still waiting for their new contracts (BPA's) to be approved, with the current BPA's expiring at the end of March. Wondering if VE's are done.
Food for thought: whining about not being able to use your SSA equipment to access news, sports, shopping, etc just reinforces to people inclined to believe you're being unproductive that you are doing non-work related things when you're supposed to be working.
I'd also point out that if you were still using your government-issued device(s) to do this despite knowing the DOGE people are poking around Agency systems and looking for any reason to help the Agency get rid of you, then you were risking a conduct dismissal anyway.
"Dudek said the old ways of 'setting goals, doing studies, discussion, getting information and data before making decisions' are gone." What in the what?
Yeah, lets make uninformed decisions not based on data, information, discussion, or studies. Those always work out so well.
Meanwhile, they allow 19 year old dogey's into the systems with all PII and data to do whatever they want! The lack of outrage is so disturbing. Thank you for your work and keeping people updated, Charles.
MSN news sites are not blocked. Now why might that be....
Yup, along with the announcement yesterday of strict monitoring of break/lunch + comparing clock-in to facility card-in times. These things aren't bad in themselves, but it's pretty clear that an administration that doesn't care about protecting information across the breadth of fedgov isn't doing this to "better protect info" but simply to make ongoing employment as painful as possible for anyone holding on. Meanwhile the debacle of that senior staff meeting shows why you don't elevate amateurs to agency-leading positions.
No idea. I think he's trying to show he's a "good soldier" who will do what he's told regardless of whether he thinks it's a good idea or not because he blames his prior bosses as a symptom of the problems that need to be fixed. Whether that's enough to help him keep a job in the new Schedule F...I'm not sure anyone knows what this administration is going to do from one day to the next.
12:36 -- not sure what you have seen, but it's likely to be very cramped in some areas once bargaining is forced back. At this stage, there's usually just a core day (for different areas) + one other day, and that's how they managed the space. It's really obvious with the contractors who are forced to sit at public tables, public chairs (without desks), or the ends of the cube rows that are not suited as work spaces -- imagine what it's like to have one person at your table talking on a call while you're trying to work, and esp if it's sensitive info they should have privacy to discuss. It's already a mess, and bargaining isn't even back full RTO.
We do get breaks, you know. Not all of us get cell phone service in our offices, so browsing the news, etc., during lunch breaks is pretty common.
12:44: huge disservice to claimants if VEs are “done“. The labor market stats are pretty much unusable without the context they provide. AI won’t be able to do that. Hopefully not all ME contracts were lost!
Reasonable use of government equipment (including computers and internet) has been agency policy since we got computers and internet. I think it is also in union contracts. No one should be surfing non-work sites while on duty but on lunch and breaks it's perfectly OK per agency policy to do so. There has been filtering software on agency internet since almost the beginning, so porn and have sites among others were blocked and a record kept. Understand that until last week, our library had enterprise newspaper licenses for many of the nations top newspapers and sites because there is value in the news. (Until there isn't I guess.)
You must be in a large office space like PSC... I'm sure there are offices that will be cramped. In fact, our office is renovating and moving into another field office the next county over, and they have "enough space" for the 10 people moving in temporarily - even if the space they're offering is front-end windows with very limited space. I've heard the noise is too distracting for most folks that work at the front end windows. Seems like the field offices in our area of the country could double their staff and still have empty desks. It's sad...
But shouldn’t be in this environment. Normal times, sure, but read the room and know you are monitored.
The term in the Agency policy and contracts is not "reasonable use," it is limited use. If you read the Agency policy, it also specifically precludes engaging in commercial activities, which would encompass shopping, as well as posting SSA information to external newsgroups, bulletin boards or other public forums (e.g. this site), no matter when, with the use of Agency equipment.
As 2:20 said, and as I implied at 1:00, what you used to do because it was either allowed or simply ignored is irrelevant. Understand what is going on around you and the context of what the administration and DOGE are trying to do with the aid and assistance of a milquetoast ACOSS. They are making the work environment as intolerable as possible so people will leave of their own volition.
I feel like district courts will have a field day if ALJs are left to make determinations on matters that are more appropriate for vocational experts.
What makes you think they care?
They are making the work environment as intolerable as possible so people will leave of their own volition.
And where does this stop? Collecting employees' personal electronic devices at the door? Making everyone wear formal dress? Eliminating flex bands and forcing everyone to work 8-4:30? Doing away with combined lunch and breaks as OHO allows? These are just a few things that could make the work more intolerable.
What SSA employee with any sense at all would access “online shopping,” “general news” and “sports" on their government devices. That's what your iPhones and other personal devices are for!
Most of us learned long before this administration that there's no privacy on government computers. If they started banning employees from using their iPhones or other smart phones on "company time," that might be something to complain about.
That's Doge - they're nerdy klutzy stupid bulls in a china shop.
Field Offices are not the only employees processing. Many other sites, e.g. the Payment Centers and TSCs, also are involved in processing claims and post-adjudicative actions. They all need local support to ensure they can do their jobs. Local support employees supports the health and safety of them as well as the public. Drastic cuts can not be succesful without input from those in the trenches. Stop the disasterous top down orders without input from the locals.
"Doing away with combined lunch and breaks as OHO allows?"
Well now that you've put it out in public, don't be surprised if it's reined in. But by all means, continue to publicly air the perks and privileges, minor as they might be, that you find make your work environment better as if nobody is reading these posts who will use it against you and your colleagues.
Most non-desk locations in SSA offices don't have wire drops for ethernet connections. SSA offices are precluded from using wireless connections, they are prohibited from using ethernet splitters to share ports, and they can't add network ports to the office LANs without security approval first (even if there was money to do so).
They are not blocked, yet. They will be.
There is no little to no cell service inside the buildings in the complex. Also, who cares what you are doing as long as you are getting your work done and doing it at a high level.
I had to use my personal phone to look up a GRID rule. The browser opens to a News site - it’s a trick.
For all the criticisms of the current ACOSS, it seems to me that whoever the current ACOSS is, that person will be criticized because that person would have to do whatever he or she is ordered by the president and the current president does not appear to want SSA to succeed. The skill of such a commissioner would be in mitigating any damage done by the consequences of the orders he or she is given. So far only around 40 probationary employees were fired with a good percentage taking other work within the agency and will probably be able to come back to their original jobs given the latest news. Furthermore, only two offices have been eliminated, important offices but still only two. Yes these two offices should still be around. It is hard to judge the current ACOSS but from what I have seen, he is politically savvy enough not to argue with the president about the number of dead people receiving benefits and to write an email in double language ordering everyone back to the office and quoting Trump while at the same time indicating that it is only non bargaining employees. The current ACOSS is in my opinion the best person for the job at the time because he has the wisdom to deal with quasi dictators while still keeping the agency running. The previous ACOSS couldn’t do it and to her credit she resigned.
Wouldn't bet on it, he's a useful idiot. They will cut him loose as soon as the nominee gets confirmed and put the blame on Dudek for anything that goes wrong, because by then he will of course be a disgruntled former employee who got way too far in over his head. He is a tool in every sense of the word and deserves everything coming to him.
Pretty sure just from looking at them that the DOGE klan is using government internet to watch 🌽 on "duty" time while getting their ridiculously inflated salaries.
The ban on sports and shopping content is just a red herring to distract from what makes this move sooooooo ill-conceived and inefficient. It distracts from trying to control the information real public servants can get about this stimulant- and ketamine-fueled ransacking of the Federal government. Dudek just got but hurt when he read this article and didn't like that it portrayed him for what he is - a bumbling, incompetent yes man. What makes it inefficient is that it blocks many, many sites that have real work value, like occupational and labor news, vocational data, medical information. Nevermind the fact that it is backasswards - having to get management approval anytime you need to access a site ADDS to the bureaucracy. HELL, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Dudek was canned for this little power trip, especially since it was early in the nes cycle and took some attention off of Dudek's master, I mean Fuhrer.
How has no one challenged this stooge's appointment? 42 U.S.C. § 902(b)(4) says POTUS can designate "another officer of the Government" to be ACOSS. An “officer,” is an individual who is required by law to be appointed in the civil service by the head of an agency, and is subject to the supervision of the agency head. 5 U.S.C. § 2104(a). No way Dudek met either of those criteria before his ascension.
Ditto 4:00. WTH is wrong with you 3:46?
Would you please share that language in the article, I can’t see it for the paywall? Thanks.
It has nothing to do with if they like him personally or not. Anything he does as ACOSS is an official act as a government official, not a personal action. If he is doing something they don't condone, he can and should be removed. If they decide they don't like something they are telling him to do later, they won't defend it, but that doesn't make him personally liable.
I’d love to work the death alert workload but since news sites are blocked I cannot go to obituaries to develop unverified death reports. This will lead to more dead people getting benefit payments. Seems DOGE just DOGEd themselves.
The info about the contract for medical experts being canceled and no new hearings being scheduled is from the blog posting that we are responding to:
"Due to a DOGE-driven spending freeze on federal credit cards, some offices can’t pay phone bills, the employee said, while one office was forced last week to cancel three disability hearings because the staff could not use charge cards to pay for interpreters who speak foreign languages or American Sign Language. One claimant has a terminal illness, and another is in danger of losing their house, the employee said. No new hearings have been scheduled.
Meanwhile, a DOGE-led campaign to cancel contracts deemed “wasteful” across the government is also hurting Social Security. The agency lost a contract that paid for medical experts to testify at disability hearings, the employee said, along with another contract for mold removal from offices."
The VE info isn't from the blog posting or the article.
Get over yourselves. They don't need to come to this blog to come up with ideas to make the work worse.
The E stands for Elimination
THIS!!
"Get over yourselves" proclaims the person who is mad they can't use work equipment to shop.
I think a large number of 150 year olds that aren't dead are those who died before 1972 when the Numidents were computerized. My guess is those obituaries may be hard to find.
There is 10000% Wi-Fi now. It’s trash. There are 9 souls to a cubicle. Not a drill.
I'm not mad. This directive has little practical impact for obvious reasons.
I wrote the above comment. I just listened to Martin O’Malley about what had happened to the two offices that were deleted. I take back what I said about the current ACOSS being the best person for the job. This is all very sad.
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