As DOGE Launches Risky Tech Experiment, Warren, Wyden Press Social Security Commissioner on Potential Catastrophic Benefit Cuts
Rush job risks Americans’ private data, creates security vulnerabilities, paves way for significant disruptions to Social Security benefits
“Empowering DOGE to root through complex and sensitive SSA systems could result in irreversible damage that costs hard-working Americans the benefits they are owed.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, pressed Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano on concerns that Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts to hastily upgrade Social Security tech infrastructure could cause major disruptions to the delivery of critical benefits and mass data losses — including the wage histories of every working American.
“It is essential that appropriate testing and safeguards are put in place to ensure that hurried and untested changes don’t interrupt service or erase critical data necessary to ensure that Americans can access the benefits they have paid into their whole working lives,” wrote the senators, warning that “empowering DOGE to root through complex and sensitive SSA systems could result in irreversible damage that costs hard-working Americans the benefits they are owed.”
Legacy COBOL systems serve as the technological backbone of the Social Security program, and the SSA is already undertaking an IT modernization plan that was updated just last year. But recent reporting suggests that DOGE is abandoning this plan and is instead attempting a major overhaul of the SSA’s digital infrastructure in just a few months. Experts described the rushed DOGE effort to overhaul Social Security’s software backbone as “performing a high-wire act without a net.”
DOGE’s “hostile takeover” of Social Security has resulted in service issues, preventing Americans from receiving the benefits they are entitled to. In February, DOGE announced plans to fire thousands of staffers, 78% of whom work in frontline customer service roles. DOGE has also taken aim at the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), the department responsible for protecting Americans’ most sensitive information, maintaining the agency’s benefit claims processing systems, and managing both the SSA’s website and the online portal used by Social Security enrollees. DOGE has already limited access to benefits by damaging SSA’s technological infrastructure — and this rushed experiment will only exacerbate those problems.
As sensitive data are housed internally at SSA and cannot be easily replicated, losing essential data could cause irreparable damage to Americans’ Social Security benefits. Many states rely on SSA data to administer programs, and data losses or inaccuracies created during the IT modernization process could devastate the administration of other crucial safety net programs, like Medicaid and SNAP. Additional security vulnerabilities could be introduced by attempting to hastily migrate these systems to new tech infrastructure, leaving the Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information of hundreds of millions of Americans susceptible to hackers and other bad actors.
“American taxpayers who have contributed to Social Security for their whole lives should not have to worry that unqualified DOGE employees are going to destroy the system that distributes their benefits or create security vulnerabilities that lead to their data being stolen,” concluded the lawmakers.
Senate Dems’ Social Security War Room is a coordinated effort to fight back against the Trump administration’s attack on Americans’ Social Security. The War Room coordinates messaging across the Senate Democratic Caucus and external stakeholders; encourages grassroots engagement by providing opportunities for Americans to share what Social Security means to them; and educates Senate staff, the American public, and stakeholders about Republicans’ agenda and their continued cuts to Americans’ Social Security services and benefits.
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