Happy Pi Day

 

John Solly Is The Alleged Culprit In Data Theft

      From Wired:

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. …

Where’s The Slack Coming From?

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast <Commissioner.Broadcast@ssa.gov>

Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2026 11:35 AM

Subject: SSA Brings Continuing Disability Review Workloads In-House  

A Message to All SSA and DDS Employees      

 

Subject: SSA Brings Continuing Disability Review Workloads In-House 

Today, we announced the agency will bring in-house the processing of medical continuing disability reviews (CDRs) from State Disability Determination Services (DDS) to our federal processing site called Disability Case Review (DCR). CDRs are conducted as part of SSA’s ongoing program integrity workload to determine whether a person receiving disability benefits should continue receiving them.   

Centralizing medical CDRs is another important step to reduce improper payments and improve customer service. This shift allows the DDSs to focus on efficiently processing disability claim decisions and benefits for eligible individuals. Reduced wait times for state level disability decisions means eligible individuals can begin receiving their critical benefits more quickly.   

DDS initial claim backlogs spiked to over 1.2 million in June of 2024. They have done great work driving down the backlog to 831,000 claimants waiting for a decision as of February 2026. This next step will maximize the DDS’s state level resources to further reduce processing time and continue to drive down the pending claims. 

 

DCR, with its experience processing initial disability claims, reconsideration cases, and medical CDRs, will now handle medical CDRs for the entire country—allowing DDS sites to focus on reducing wait times on initial claims and reconsideration cases for citizens in their state. Non-medical CDRs, which do not require the same expertise as medical CDRs to process, will continue to be handled by the agency’s field offices and processing centers. 

Frank J. Bisignano 

Commissioner 

Arbitrator Orders Telework Restored But Don’t Expect It To Happen Anytime Soon

      From Federal News Network:

A third-party arbitrator is ordering the Social Security Administration to restore telework for many of its employees, after the agency indefinitely suspended workplace flexibilities under the Trump administration.

The arbitrator, in an order signed on Wednesday, directed SSA to restore telework for employees represented by the American Federation of Government Employees. The ruling brings back telework to levels that had been in place before mid-March 2025. …

The arbitrator’s ruling won’t have an immediate impact on SSA’s workforce. An SSA spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “strongly disagrees with today’s flawed decision,” and will appeal it to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which has a majority of Trump appointees. … 

Maybe You Shouldn’t Have Fired Them

      From the Washington Post:

… At the Social Security Administration, officials are moving forward with plans to hire at least 700 customer service representatives this year, according to two people familiar with internal discussions. The agency aims to increase its workforce by roughly 1,000 employees after losing about 7,000 last year. …

Do You Trust The “Investigation”?

       From the Washington Post:

The Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog is investigating a complaint that alleges a former U.S. DOGE Service employee claimed he had access to two highly sensitive agency databases and planned to share the information with his private employer — a claim that, if true, would constitute an unprecedented breach of security protocols at an agency that serves more than 70 million Americans.
 …

According to the disclosure, the former DOGE software engineer, who worked at the Social Security Administration last year before starting a job at a government contractor in October, allegedly told several co-workers that he possessed two tightly restricted databases of U.S. citizens’ information, and had at least one on a thumb drive. The databases, called “Numident” and the “Master Death File,” include records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers, places and dates of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents’ names. The complaint does not include specific dates of when he is said to have told colleagues this information, but at least one of the alleged events unfolded around early January, according to the complaint. While working at DOGE, the engineer had approved access to Social Security data.

According to the complaint, he allegedly told the whistleblower that he needed help transferring data from a thumb drive “to his personal computer so that he could ‘sanitize’ the data before using it at [the company.]” The engineer told colleagues that once he had removed personal details from the data, he wanted to upload it into the company’s systems. He told another colleague, who refused to help him upload the data because of legal concerns, that he expected to receive a presidential pardon if his actions were deemed to be illegal, according to the complaint. ….

The whistleblower filed the complaint with the inspector general in January. When The Post contacted the agency and the company in January, both said they had not heard of the complaint. Both said they subsequently looked into the allegations and did not find evidence to confirm the claims. The company said it had conducted a “thorough” two-day internal investigation and concluded the assertions were unsubstantiated. Reached this week, both declined further comment. … 

Please, Not At Social Security

      The New York Times is reporting on the pictures of President Trump proliferating in and on government offices around the country. Please tell me there are no Trump pictures in or on Social Security offices apart from the traditional 8x10s at the entrance.

What It’s Supposed To Be Like

      A letter to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

This is a shoutout to the staff at Bozeman’s Social Security office, who recently helped me apply for retirement benefits in a professional and incredibly helpful manner.

My case was perhaps a bit more complicated than most in that I’d worked both in the U.S. and overseas, so there were several application details to figure out. I’d gotten a letter from the Denver-based Social Security office saying that my application process had stalled because they needed more information from me.

So I drove over to the local office, thinking, “More information? What more information?,” not knowing what to expect when I arrived (application delays? Denial?).

SSA Wants Kiosks

      From a contracting notice posted by Social Security:

This is a Request for Information. The agency wants to deploy secure, accessible self-service kiosks nationwide to further modernize service delivery and improve customer experience. These kiosks will empower customers to complete routine transactions independently, reduce lobby congestion, and offer flexible service options. The Self-Service Kiosks will supplement existing check-in systems and integrate with SSA’s network and infrastructure, with robust accessibility features. This initiative enhances, not replaces, in-person service.

     My recollection is that this was tried before and made little progress. 

Bisignano Testimony Panned By GOP Congressman

      From Politico:

A Republican tax writer ripped IRS CEO Frank Bisignano on Wednesday, blasting him as unprepared for his appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee.

“This is unacceptable,” Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) told Bisignano, who frequently offered vague answers to lawmakers’ questions about tax-filing season, Republicans’ signature tax cuts and other issues.

“You really need to come in here and answer the questions that these members ask you directly, and saying ‘I’ll come see you in your office,’ even to me, on very basic questions that I’m asking you, is really upsetting,” Miller said. “I am very embarrassed right now for my side.” …

Miller was frustrated by Bisignano’s answers to his inquiries about the agency’s plans for taxing digital assets, an admittedly arcane topic. But Bisignano’s responses to lawmakers’ questions on a range of issues were often vague and repetitive. And he appeared to be unfamiliar with some aspects of President Donald Trump’s signature tax breaks. …

Miller said he blamed Bisignano’s advisers who accompanied him to the hearing.

“You need to do a better job of educating the IRS commissioner about the questions that he’s coming here to answer,” Miller told them. “If I was working for a principal, I would never let them walk into a hearing like this.”

Who’s Running The Show?

 

    Frank Bisignano is simultaneously trying to be Commissioner of Social Security and “CEO” of the IRS, a position that doesn’t really exist. When he was nominated to be Commissioner he openly admitted that he knew little about the agency he was supposed to run. Even if he’s a quick learner there’s no way that I can see that he can run Social Security on a day to day basis without subjecting himself to a ton of briefings so that he can understand the issues he’s deciding on. How can he possibly have time for that when he’s also trying to run the IRS, especially if he’s interacting with others at Social Security mainly through video?

      My question is whether insiders think Bisignano is actually running things at the agency on a daily basis. If he isn’t, who is? I suppose one possibility is that Bisignano is making the decisions but without bothering to understand the issues. If you regard Social Security as fundamentally unimportant and don’t expect to be around long, why bother with trying to understand arcane issues? If Trump didn’t bother with understanding the issues presented by embarking with war on Iran, why should Bisignano bother with understanding the issues at Social Security? How important can Social Security be? It pays its Commissioner far less than a million a year, peanuts in Bisignano’s world.

Bisignano Declines To Answer Questions

      From the Los Angeles Times:

The head of the IRS largely declined to answer questions about recent unlawful disclosures of taxpayer data when he was questioned by lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, saying they happened before his tenure began.  …

“Was anyone fired? Was anyone disciplined? Was anyone held accountable? Was anyone held to account?” Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) asked Bisignano.

Bisignano cited ongoing litigation and declined to answer questions about the disclosures, adding, “I don’t want to debate the numbers.” …

     A Democratic chairman of the Committee would not allow Bisignano to decide which questions he wouldn’t  answer which is why Bisignano will quickly decide to spend more time with his family and his fortune if Democrats seize control of either the Senate or House in November.

Congressional Hearing Today

      Here’s a reminder that a full Ways and Means Committee hearing with Commissioner Bisignano is coming up at 10:00 today. It’s supposed to be about Bisignano’s role at the IRS but I imagine that Social Security will come up. You can watch online.

A Lot Worse

 

    The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) has produced a report on customer service at Social Security since DOGE entered the picture. Not surprisingly, they report significant deterioration in service.

Scam Call Center Shut Down

   

  From Yahoo! Finance:

A collaborative effort by the FBI, local police and Indian authorities has shut down a huge scam call center operation in India that saw Americans lose nearly $50 million. …

The FBI says that about 660 people in the U.S. reported falling victim to government impersonation and tech support scams since 2022 that were connected to the call centers, with losses totaling a staggering $48,778,230. In Maryland alone, nearly two dozen victims reported losing a total of $6,257,869. …

Interesting Parallel

      From the Washington Post:

A federal judge has found that the Internal Revenue Service violated federal law “approximately 42,695 times” when it shared confidential taxpayer addresses with immigration enforcement officials last summer.


U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued the ruling Thursday as part of ongoing litigation over a data-sharing arrangement between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security.


Federal law requires that before the IRS hands over a taxpayer’s address, a requesting agency must first provide the IRS with the name and address of the person it’s looking for. The requirement exists to ensure that the government can access confidential tax records only for individuals it has already specifically identified.
The ruling finds that DHS did not follow this law. The judge wrote that the vast majority of the nearly 47,300 taxpayer addresses the IRS shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August were disclosed without the IRS confirming that ICE provided a valid address for the person whose records it was seeking. … 

     This happened just before Bisignano became the “CEO” of the IRS. The data compromises at Social Security happened just before Bisignano became Commissioner of Social Security.

Interview With Commissioner

      The AARP recently interviewed Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano. They’ve published a transcript. The questions were only of the softball variety. They didn’t even ask about his dual role with the IRS!

Bisignano To Testify At Congressional Hearing

      The House Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a hearing with Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano for 10:00 on March 4. However, this hearing concerns Bisignano’s position as “CEO” of the IRS, a position that doesn’t really exist. Nothing will prevent Committee members from asking questions about Social Security or Bisignano’s business history.

A Poll

 

Four Times? Accidental?

      From Fox 4:

… 94-year-old Helen Cvik was declared legally dead in December 2025 by Social Security. The problem is, Miss Helen is still alive.

It's the fourth time since 2017 that Miss Helen has been declared dead by the SSA, including twice in 2025 alone. The first and second incidents in 2017 and 2020 were resolved quickly, with no explanation given for the error. …

The most recent accidental declaration has not been resolved, leaving Miss Helen and her family to pick up a $5,000 bill to cover her insurance, prescriptions, and her assisted living facility care. …