Elon Musk’s DOGE and its White House compatriots are now taking on the Social Security Administration after gaining access to the most sensitive data held by the $1.3 trillion organization.
The move apparently led to a leadership shakeup this past weekend as the woman who had been the acting head of America’s social safety net was replaced.
The rapid-fire developments raised immediate alarm bells across Washington about the program’s short-term stability and the Musk team’s access to Social Security numbers, medical histories, and earnings histories of every American.
“This is a fishing expedition,” Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works and a critic of Musk’s move, charged in an interview Tuesday morning.
Altman said she is in touch with current Social Security employees and was told Musk’s team has gained “access to everything.” In her view, he could accomplish his stated goals of rooting out fraudulent claims without the blanket access he now appears to enjoy.
“I don’t know what they want, but whatever they want, that’s why we have privacy laws,” she added.
Musk has offered a variety of reasons for the dramatic moves this weekend focused on what he claims are unlawful issuings of Social Security checks.
But the billionaire has also made clear he intends to reform the organization, contending the checks are tied to illegal immigration and even offered at one point a charge that Social Security could be involved in what “might be the biggest fraud in history.”
Musk’s move against the program — which represents the biggest line item in the federal budget and one that could also face a financial shortfall as early as 2035 — follows a pattern that has seen Musk allies repeatedly seek access to highly sensitive information at agencies like the US Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Labor Department.
The moves have been met with a flurry of legal challenges, and some rulings questioned the legality of his efforts.
The latest moves from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) take him into programs that are deeply woven into the daily lives of Americans, setting up what could be the biggest test yet for his rapid-fire moves through the federal government to cut expenses.
The program has long held a special place in American politics, with an aide to then-Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill apparently the first to call it “the third rail of American politics.” George W. Bush added a few years later: “You grab ahold of it, and you get electrified.”
The Social Security Administration currently provides financial assistance to more than 72 million older Americans, with millions more relying on the program for things like disability benefits.
The clash between Musk and the Social Security Administration has been brewing for weeks but came to a head Monday when the acting head of the program, Michelle King, was removed and replaced by an anti-fraud official at the agency named Leland Dudek, who will now oversee things until Frank Bisignano, Trump’s pick, is confirmed by the Senate.
“President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long,” said White House Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields in a statement about the move.
Fields didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional information, such as the level of access Musk’s team enjoys and whether they are making changes.
This week’s move was just the latest in a long history of political clashes surrounding a program relied upon by millions of Americans.
Altman has been involved in the Social Security debate for decades, including a stint on the government’s Social Security Advisory Board. Regarding this week’s move by Musk, “I actually see it as unprecedented,” she said, expressing a worry that deeper reforms could follow.
Altman’s group has long been allied with left-leaning figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who want to raise taxes to increase benefits from the program.
Musk has said his focus is simply on issues like fraud and his claims that 150-year-olds are on the rolls.
Musk joked last week, “They should be on the Guinness Book of World Records.” His main priority, he said, was “to make sure people who deserve to receive Social Security do receive it and that they receive it quickly and accurately.”
That claim has been amplified by Trump aides, including White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said Trump has directed DOGE to look into fraud, and “they suspect that there are tens of millions of deceased people who are receiving fraudulent Social Security payments.”
But Leavitt also noted Monday that “they haven’t dug into the books yet,” with Musk also leveling his charges after what he called a “cursory” examination.
The Social Security Administration’s inspector general released an audit of improper payments last year that found a very different picture. It found that from 2015 to 2022, the agency made about $71.8 billion, or less about 0.84 percent, in improper payments, usually in the form of overpayments.
Altman called the claims of 150-year-olds getting checks false, saying she has been told that the COBOL computer programming language that runs the program defaults to May 20, 1875 — almost exactly 150 years ago — if the program is missing a birth date for any recipient.
Other reports have also suggested that the programming quirk could be behind the claims of 150-year-olds on the rolls.
