Staffing Cuts

     From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Trump Administration Cuts to Social Security Staffing, January 2025 to April 2026
	Overall SSA Staffing Losses		Loss of Select Customer Service Positions1
	#	%	#	%
ALABAMA	-313	-12%	-195	-12%
ALASKA	-3	-8%	-1	-4%
ARIZONA	-82	-13%	-58	-12%
ARKANSAS	-44	-11%	-31	-9%
CALIFORNIA	-637	-11%	-348	-8%
COLORADO	-106	-17%	-52	-13%
CONNECTICUT	-30	-10%	-21	-9%
DELAWARE	-5	-5%	-6	-9%
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	-198	-21%	-23	-22%
FLORIDA	-344	-13%	-252	-12%
GEORGIA	-220	-14%	-97	-9%
HAWAII	-28	-21%	-20	-18%
IDAHO	-8	-6%	-3	-3%
ILLINOIS	-416	-17%	-206	-13%
INDIANA	-86	-13%	-60	-12%
IOWA	-32	-13%	-24	-12%
KANSAS	-31	-13%	-22	-12%
KENTUCKY	-97	-14%	-66	-12%
LOUISIANA	-62	-11%	-43	-10%
MAINE	-20	-12%	-16	-12%
MARYLAND2	-1,543	-16%	124	5%
MASSACHUSETTS	-120	-12%	-89	-12%
MICHIGAN	-136	-11%	-92	-11%
MINNESOTA	-50	-13%	-42	-13%
MISSISSIPPI	-57	-11%	-35	-9%
MISSOURI	-405	-17%	-224	-16%
MONTANA	-18	-17%	-15	-18%
NEBRASKA	-20	-13%	-13	-12%
NEVADA	-36	-14%	-17	-8%
NEW HAMPSHIRE	-12	-9%	-11	-12%
NEW JERSEY	-23	-3%	-24	-4%
NEW MEXICO	-160	-23%	-145	-23%
NEW YORK	-452	-13%	-223	-9%
NORTH CAROLINA	-186	-14%	-106	-12%
NORTH DAKOTA	-7	-9%	-2	-4%
OHIO	-165	-13%	-127	-13%
OKLAHOMA	-52	-11%	-31	-9%
OREGON	-54	-16%	-38	-15%
PENNSYLVANIA	-587	-16%	-357	-14%
RHODE ISLAND	-9	-6%	-5	-5%
SOUTH CAROLINA	-64	-11%	-46	-11%
SOUTH DAKOTA	-5	-7%	-4	-6%
TENNESSEE	-124	-14%	-74	-11%
TEXAS	-424	-13%	-279	-11%
UTAH	-22	-13%	-16	-12%
VERMONT	-7	-13%	-6	-12%
VIRGINIA	-100	-14%	-75	-14%
WASHINGTON	-168	-15%	-128	-15%
WEST VIRGINIA	-49	-16%	-23	-11%
WISCONSIN	-91	-17%	-80	-18%
WYOMING	-6	-18%	-6	-19%
TOTAL3	-8,028	-14%	-3,809	-10%
Source: OPM EHRI Status

That Word “Reputation” Concerns Me

      From a contracting notice posted by Social Security:

RFI [Request For Information] to gather vendor information for User Activity Monitoring (UAM) with capabilities to enhance agency Insider Threat Program to deter, detect, mitigate, and negate insider threats to the agency workforce, assets, and reputation. The RFI also seeks to find case management solutions tailored for controlled unclassified and classified environments to implement in compliance to multiple Executive Orders. …

     “Reputation” could cover things like expressing negative opinions about agency policies and leaders even in social media. This may fit in with the reports about Palantir providing spyware.

Trump Administration Wanted To Declare 2.7 Million Living People As Dead

      From the Washington Post:

The Trump administration had plans to classify 2.7 million living people — including some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents — as dead as part of its immigration enforcement efforts, according to a former senior Social Security executive. 

The previously unreported plan, which the Social Security Administration said was not carried out, would have used one of the government’s most consequential identity databases to effectively erase people from the financial system, potentially cutting them off from wages, banking, government benefits and other services.

Jeremiah Schofield, who worked at Social Security for 25 years and helped lead the agency’s IT modernization efforts before leaving in October, said he refused to help implement the plan after agency lawyers warned that falsely marking living people as dead could violate federal law. …

Schofield has provided details on the plan in a 49-page whistleblower disclosure to the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which was reviewed by The Washington Post. The disclosure offers the most detailed account yet of how officials from Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service sought to use Social Security data in service of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. …

Bisignano To Testify

      The House Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a hearing for June 10 with Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano. This will come a day after the Trustees Report is released.