Yawn

      It seems quieter at Social Security since Frank Bisignano was confirmed as Commissioner. I don’t know if it’s a good thing but I have less to write about.

Big NYT Article On DOGE, Dudek And Social Security

      From the New York Times:

Elon Musk stood before a giant American flag at a Wisconsin political rally in March and rolled out an eye-popping allegation of rampant fraud at the Social Security Administration. Scammers, he said, were making 40 percent of all calls to the agency’s customer service line.

Social Security employees knew the billionaire’s claim had no basis in fact. After journalists followed up, staff members began drafting a response correcting the record.

That’s when Leland Dudek — plucked from a midlevel job only six weeks earlier to run Social Security because of his willingness to cooperate with Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — got an angry call from the White House, according to several people familiar with the exchange.

“The number is 40 percent,” insisted Katie Miller, a top administration aide who was working closely with Mr. Musk, according to one of the people familiar with the April 1 call. President Trump believed Mr. Musk, she said. “Do not contradict the president.” 

Throughout the early months of this Trump presidency, Mr. Musk and his allies systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at the Social Security Administration based on misinterpreted data, using their claims to justify an aggressive effort to gain access to personal information on millions of Americans, a New York Times investigation has found. …

Mr. Dudek was recently placed on administrative leave … 

Mr. Dudek, 48, has told associates that while he did his best to fend off deeper cuts, he harbors deep misgivings about the effect of DOGE’s oversight, according to several people familiar with the conversations. … 

On Feb. 27, a DOGE engineer told Mr. Dudek in an email that the administration had identified roughly three dozen federal contracts in Maine as “nonessential,” including the two from Social Security. 

“We should cancel them,” wrote the engineer, Ethan Shaotran, 23, who declined to comment when reached by The Times. … 

Mr. Dudek faced another crisis on March 20, when a federal judge issued an order prohibiting Mr. Musk’s team from entering Social Security databases that contained personally identifying information. … 

On the night of the ruling, two DOGE leaders told Mr. Dudek that the agency should continue allowing access to the data despite the judge’s order, with one arguing that the order was so ambiguous that it could block all Social Security employees, not just members of DOGE, from gaining access, according to a person familiar with events. …

     One question I have after reading this is whether Dudek talked with the Times. I’ll guess he did.

One Of The Things That's Been Lost

      Until this year the Social Security Administration had a small staff, perhaps one person, dedicated to preserving agency history. I understand that this has been closed down. The nice and informative website that they created was shut down for a time but is back up now. I never visited there in person but I understood that there was a small agency history library and museum. Does anyone know what happened to the contents of the library and museum? I hope they've been preserved somewhere.

Not Dead Yet

     There was an earlier report that the President planned to shut down the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB). It wasn't clear at the time whether that was happening then or was something to happen in the future. I still don't know what the intent was at that time but the SSAB is still in business. They just issued a statement on Supplemental Security Income and U.S. Territories.

OHO Had More Than 50,000 Overtime Hours Last Month But Still Lost Ground

 

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ERE Having Problems

     I'm hearing that Social Security is having a significant problem with its ERE system. Attorneys aren't able to upload files. This has been going on since Monday and is a national problem. 

    By the way, I'm calling it ERE but, honestly, I don't know what the official name is now. It's gone by various names. ERE (Electronic Records Express) is the oldest name and, I think, the name most commonly used by attorneys representing claimants. 

Can The DOGE Kiddie Korps Survive Outside The Tech Hothouse?

     Over the decades it’s been my experience that people new to the Social Security world dramatically underestimate the complexity and sensitivity of the work that the Social Security Administration does. I wonder how long it will take for DOGE employees to figure this out. I doubt that their arrogance can long coexist with knowledge of just how complex Social Security is. 

     As an example of the complexity let’s imagine a recent widow calling in to ask about benefits she might be able to receive. Sounds like that would be a common sort of transaction and it is. Here’s some of the questions that should come up and there are plenty more that may come up:

• How old are you?
• Do you have any minor children?
• Do you have any disabled adult children?
• Are you working and, if so, how much are you earning?
• How much income of any kind do you have now?
• How much do you have in the way of resources, such as money in the bank?
• Are you disabled?

     Depending on the answers to those questions and potentially more, the widow and members of her family may be entitled to these sorts of benefits and she and others in her family may easily be entitled to two or three of these at the same time:

• Aged widows benefits
• Disabled widows benefits
• Child benefits
• Disabled adult child benefits
• Mothers benefits
• SSI
• Retirement benefits
• Disability Insurance Benefits

      If you think that there are online systems available now or in the near future able to seamlessly help a grieving woman whose only online device is a cell phone deal with all this online you just don’t understand people, much less grieving people and you must not have dealt with what passes for AI service now.

     The DOGE people aren’t used to working in an environment including multiple legacy systems. They’re never had to cope with computer illiterates. Those benighted souls weren’t the customers they were aiming at or cared about. They’ve never had to deal with anything like Social Security’s complexity. It will take them at least a couple of years to begin to learn it and I do mean “begin.” They really need to know it in depth and that can take a decade or more. They’re not going to be around the agency anywhere near that long.

Tracking DOGE

      DOGE Track is an online service tracking DOGE activities across the government, including Social Security. It tells you what has happened in great detail but gives no predictions for the future. It’s a great resource. There’s been so much going on that it’s been hard to keep track of it all. I’ll warn you that DOGE Track is a bit buggy. I can open it on my iPad but not my desktop. It’s labeled as a beta version, meaning they know it’s buggy and are working on it.