Deep Freeze At Social Security

Social Security, an agency with about 59,000 employees currently lists no job openings anywhere in the agency. This is a dramatic sign of the severity of Social Security's budget problems.

Who Is Andrew Biggs?

Andrew Biggs, President Bush's nominee to be Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, is pictured to the right with the microphone in his hand. He was on the stage with the President campaigning for Social Security privatization in Raleigh, NC, as reported by The Daily Dispatch of Henderson, NC.

Biggs was a Social Security employee. The Executive Intelligence Review gives a summary of Bigg's activities at Social Security:

The 37-year old Biggs, a graduate of the London School of Economics, was the Cato Institute's senior Social Security analyst. In 2001, Cato made Biggs the lead researcher for the President's official Commission [on Social Security reform]. In May 2003, Biggs was promoted to Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy at the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), part of Cato's coup-effort to take over the whole agency. Biggs sits just below the Deputy Commissioner who runs the Office of Policy, who "is responsible for major activities in the areas of strategic policy planning, policy research, and evaluation," as well as all statistical analysis, according to the SSA.

... Last year, Biggs wrote a "policy brief" internal document that mandates that all Social Security managers are required to present the idea "that Social Security faces dire financial problems requiring immediate action," in the words of the Jan. 15, 2004 New York Times. It would require the SSA to "insert solvency messages in all Social Security publications"; that is, to say that Social Security is in crisis. It would make Social Security managers spread Wall Street-lies in every public forum, as well as at non-traditional sites like farmers' markets and "big box retail stores." ...

Biggs' activities at Social Security have drawn complaints from Democratic members of Congress, according to GovExec.com. The American Federation of Government Employees also complained, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Prior to working for Social Security, Biggs was the assistant director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Privatization. He wrote many, many articles for Cato promoting Social Security privatization. He wrote for the National Review, a conservative magazine, in February 2002 and again in April 2002 in support of Social Security privatization.

Curiously, Newsmax reports that Biggs argued at one time that homosexuals ought to support Social Security privatization because the current system unfairly denies them spousal benefits.

It would be hard to imagine a more inflammatory nomination that Bush could have sent to a Senate soon to be controlled by Democrats than that of Andrew Biggs. Biggs was nominated on the same day as John Bolton, whose nomination for Ambassador to the United Nations has also been extremely controversial. Biggs' nomination is the strongest possible sign that, despite the election results and despite widespread public opposition to privatization and despite the fact that privatization has little support among Republican Congressmen and virtually none among Democratic Congressman, President Bush intends to promote Social Security privatization over the next two years. It is a stunningly grandiose move.

Biggs Nominated As Deputy Commissioner

From the White House Press Office:

The President intends to nominate Andrew G. Biggs, of New York, to be Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, for the remainder of a six year term expiring 01/19/07 and an additional six year term expiring 01/19/13. Dr. Biggs currently serves as Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy at the Social Security Administration. Prior to this, he served as a Social Security Analyst at the Cato Institute. Earlier in his career, he served as Director of Research at the Congressional Institute. Dr. Biggs received his bachelor's degree from Queens University of Belfast, his master's from Cambridge University and his PhD from the London School of Economics.

SSA Denies ALS Claim

The Carlsbad Argus reports on Robert Johnson's battle to obtain Social Security disability benefits. Johnson suffers from amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He has been denied at the initial and reconsideration levels and has now requested a hearing.

When asked about the case, the local Social Security District Office manager pushed the use of Social Security's online services.

Fraud In Oklahoma

KFDA reports that a Shawnee, Oklahoma woman pled guilty to endorsing her mother's Social Security checks for ten years after the woman died.

Investigations Of Social Security Managers

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security managers, has issued a letter to its members warning of an increasing number of investigations of Social Security management personnel. The letter does not say who is doing the investigations, but a good guess is Social Security's Inspector General. Here is an excerpt from the NCSSMA letter to its members:

During the past year the NCSSMA has become aware of a number of cases involving managers or supervisors who have been subject to "investigation" and subsequent discipline because of alleged non-criminal wrong doing. These cases involved such alleged offenses as improper personnel practices and systems sanctions violations. While the odds are that you will never be the subject of such an investigation, it is important for you to know what to do and how to conduct yourself should the occasion arise.

The first thing to know is that when such investigations materialize it appears that they come with little or no warning. In some of the cases with which we are familiar the individuals were not even aware that they were the subject of the inquiry. They were not told that their answers might lead to disciplinary action. They were merely confronted by investigators and asked to answer questions about a specific situation and, in one case, six months later served with a notice of proposed discipline

The letter goes on to give practical advice to managers who face these investigations.

Social Security Data Used In Terrorism Probes

From the Washington Post:

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Social Security Administration's vast databases of personal information have become a resource for federal investigators, who have asked the agency to check tens of thousands of records for number misuse and identity fraud -- potential precursors to terrorist activity. ...

The Social Security Administration is "the Fort Knox of identity information in the United States," said James Huse, the agency's inspector general from 1998 to 2004. "That's a pretty impressive investigative tool that no other agency possesses."

From just after Sept. 11 through 2005, Social Security officials sent prosecutors 456 referrals that were classified as terrorism-related, according to statistics compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The review shows that 91 percent of those referrals led to prosecutions. ...

Still, few if any suspects in Social Security cases are ever linked publicly to alleged terrorist activity. Most cases referred to prosecutors in the months after Sept. 11 involved document fraud by Latino immigrants working at airports.

Ticket to Work Newsletter

Maximus, the prime contractor for Social Security's Ticket to Work program, has issued its Fall Newsletter on the Ticket to Work program.