Acting Commissioner's Staff Message On Hurricanes

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast 

Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 11:29 AM

Subject: Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Update

A Message to All SSA Employees 

Subject: Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Update

The one-two punch of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma has presented challenges for our employees and facilities.  The tireless efforts of regional, area, and local staff in Dallas, Atlanta and New York have helped ensure that we continue to deliver on the mission of the agency in trying times.  Thank you for your dedication and commitment.  

Many Social Security offices in Florida remain closed. Widespread power outages in Florida and across the Southeast are complicating office re-openings.  The Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas field offices remain closed and we continue to work on securing alternate space.  The remediation work in those and other offices, including in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, has begun.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) authorized the activation of the Hurricane Harvey Emergency Leave Transfer Program (ELTP) as another measure to help adversely affected employees.  For employees who wish to donate annual leave to the ELTP, please complete Form OPM-1638, Request to Donate Leave and contact your supervisor for additional information.  If OPM makes a similar authorization for employees affected by Irma, we will let you know immediately.  For general donations, visit the Federal Employee Education and Assistance (FEEA) Fund at http://www.feea.org/, which collects contributions specifically for federal employees. 

To stay updated on service delivery in hurricane-affected areas, please visit our office closings and severe weather pages.  Recovery efforts in these areas will take time.  Please join me in keeping those affected in your thoughts.

Nancy A. Berryhill

Acting Commissioner 

Still No Trump Photo In Federal Offices

     From the Washington Post:

In the lobby of every federal building, just inside security turnstiles and before the elevator banks, a framed photograph of the president has always hung on the wall.

Not so anymore. Months after Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, pictures of the president and Vice President Pence are missing from thousands of federal courthouses, laboratories, military installations, ports of entry, office suites and hallways, and from U.S. embassies abroad.

On the walls are empty picture hooks left when workers took down official portraits of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on Jan. 20. ...

The changeover appears to be tangled in a bit of red tape and mystery.

Federal agencies ordered photographs of their new commander in chief months ago. But they say they are still waiting for the Government Publishing Office, the printer of official portraits, to send them for distribution by the General Services Administration, which owns or leases 9,600 federal buildings across the country. 
The Government Publishing Office says it has yet to receive the images from the White House. And the White House says the president and vice president have not yet decided when they will sit for the type of high-quality official photographs usually churned out by the modern GPO, continuing a portrait tradition that began after the Civil War. ...

Earnings Records In The Early Days

The Visible Index which was used in the 1930s-1950s as the index to the earnings records of Social Security beneficiaries

Many Field Offices Closed By Weather

     Below is a list of Social Security field offices that will be closed today due to hurricanes. I have not seen any list of ODAR office closures:

Alabama

• Alabama ADO
• Alexander City
• Andalusia
• Anniston
• Bessemer
• Birmingham Downtown
• Birmingham East
• Birmingham Mega TSC
• Dothan
• Montgomery
• Opelika
• Selma
• SEPSC PC3
• Talladega

Florida

• Allapattah
• Belle Glade
• Bradenton
• Carrollwood
• Clearwater
• Cocoa
• Dade City
• Deland
• Ft. Lauderdale East
• Ft. Lauderdale TSC
• Ft. Lauderdale West
• Ft. Walton Beach
• Ft. Myers
• Gainesville
• Hialeah
• Jackson Memorial Hospital
• Jacksonville North
• Jacksonville South
• Key West Resident Station
• Kissimmee
• Lake City
• Lake Mary
• Lakeland
• Leesburg
• Little Havana
• Little River
• Marianna
• Melbourne
• Miami Beach
• Miami North
• Miami South
• Naples
• New Port Richey
• North Broward
• Ocala
• Orlando
• Orlando SSCC
• Panama City
• Perrine
• Pensacola
• Port Orange
• Port St. Lucie
• Pt. Charlotte
• Sarasota
• Sebring
• South Broward
• South Palm Beach
• St. Augustine
• St. Petersburg
• Tallahassee
• Tampa Downtown
• Tampa TSC
• Tampa WSU
• Valrico
• Venice
• Vero Beach
• West Palm Beach
• Winter Haven 

Georgia

• Albany
• Athens
• Atlanta Downtown
• Atlanta RO
• Atlanta West
• Augusta
• Blue Ridge CS
• Brunswick
• Columbus
• Cordele
• Covington
• Dalton
• Decatur
• Dublin
• Gainesville
• Georgia ADO
• Griffin
• Gwinnett
• LaGrange
• Macon
• Marietta
• Milledgeville
• Morrow (Southlake)
• Newnan
• Rome
• Savannah
• Statesboro
• Savannah DDS
• Thomasville DDS
• Tifton
• Toccoa
• Valdosta
• Vidalia
• Villa Rica
• Warner Robins
• Waycross
• Winder

Puerto Rico

 

All offices are closed in Puerto Rico

South Carolina

 

• Beaufort
• Charleston
• Columbia
• Walterboro

Texas

• Beaumont
• Port Arthur

Virgin Islands

 

 All offices are closed in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Some History To Explain Why I Don't Trust Social Security's Occupational Informational Project

Click on each page to view full size.

Initial And Recon Allowance Rates

     This was obtained from the Social Security Administration by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) which published the document in the NOSSCR newsletter, which is not available online.

Acting Commissioner Message On Hurricanes

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2017 9:02 AM
Subject: Update on Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

A Message to All SSA Employees

Subject: Update on Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

Recovery efforts continue in Texas and Louisiana.  Social Security offices in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are closed, with Hurricane Irma striking those Caribbean locations yesterday.  Due to the uncertainty of the hurricane’s path, we closed many southern Florida offices beginning yesterday as residents are either under mandatory evacuation orders or preparing to evacuate.

Most employees in the affected areas of the Dallas region have returned to work, and all offices except for Port Arthur, Texas and Beaumont, Texas have reopened.  We have employees on site in several Texas shelters to provide immediate payments for those who qualify.  Over the weekend, employees assisted about 600 individuals with their Social Security service needs in these shelters.

To keep updated on service delivery in hurricane-affected areas, please visit our office closings and severe weather pages on the Internet.

These are trying times for so many Americans, many of whom are our family, friends, and colleagues.  While we continue to deliver on the mission of the Agency, please remember those in harm’s way in your thoughts and prayers.

Nancy A. Berryhill

Acting Commissioner

Alleged SSI Fraud Found During A Terrorism Investigation

     From the Buffalo News:

When FBI agents searched Ari Elias Baum's Facebook page, they were looking for evidence of a terrorist in training.

They already knew about Baum's posting of a photo depicting a couple dressed in military garb and holding weapons, with the caption, "Husband and wife fighting for Islam. The most beautiful photos I have ever seen."

The FBI also knew about the Buffalo man's travels to Yemen and Facebook friendship with a man whose inflammatory posts had come to the attention of terrorism investigators.

Baum was never charged with any terrorism crime but he will stand trial later this month for Social Security fraud, and the government would like to resurrect the terrorism claims as part of its prosecution.

That was until a federal judge said no. ...

He ordered prosecutors to stay away from any mention of the terrorism investigation but allowed them to get into Baum's travels overseas, as well as make general references to his religion. ...

Baum is charged with Social Security fraud and making false statements, and the evidence against him was uncovered as part of the FBI's terrorism investigation. The evidence includes an alleged Facebook conversation between Baum and his stepfather while Baum was traveling overseas.

"How is your money holding out?" asks his stepfather, Dr. R. Bruce Baum.

"Life is cheaper here but I will lose the SSI eventually if I stay here because they will find out that I am out of the country," Baum replied. ...

The FBI's investigation into Baum became public shortly after his arrest on fraud charges three years ago. The four-count indictment against him claims he stole $4,277 in Social Security disability benefits over a four-month period in 2013. ...

     To explain, while benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, that is, benefits based upon FICA contributions, are payable to those who are traveling or living outside the U.S. (with one rare exception), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits are not supposed to be paid in a month in which an individual is outside the United States (except in one extremely rare circumstance). These rules are not well understood by SSI recipients. I don't think a prosecution would be common for something like this because there would be no proof that the SSI recipient was intentionally breaking the law. In this case, maybe there is proof of what lawyers call scienter.