US social security says Doge ruling could force agency to shut down

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is threatening to all but shut down the Social Security Administration (SSA), in response to a judge’s ruling blocking activities by Mr Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – an action that could delay payments to millions of beneficiaries caught in the middle of the legal battle.

Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek said the temporary restraining order issued on March 20 is so broad in blocking access to data by “Doge affiliates” that it could apply to any Social Security employee.

“My anti-fraud team would be Doge affiliates. My IT (information technology) staff would be Doge affiliates,” Mr Dudek said. “As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems.”

He said he would ask the judge to immediately clarify her order.

“Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency,” he said.

The judge concluded that the unions and the retiree-advocacy group that sued were likely to succeed in arguing that Doge access to the agency’s systems violated US laws meant to safeguard sensitive information.

The stand-off represents a new escalation in the multi-front battle between US President Donald Trump and the judiciary, potentially putting 73 million Americans who receive old-age or disability benefits in the crossfire.

The White House said Mr Trump would “continue to seek all legal remedies available to ensure the will of the American people goes into effect”.

“In a 134-page decision, a radical leftist judge ordered Social Security Administration employees not to implement the President’s government-efficiency agenda,” said White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields.

“This is yet another activist judge abusing the judicial system to try and sabotage the President’s attempts to rid the government of waste, fraud, and abuse.” 

Courts have previously

restricted access by Doge staff to sensitive Treasury payment systems

until they certify that they have received proper clearance and training.

But the March 20 order by US District Judge Ellen Hollander goes even further, forbidding access to any non-anonymised data.

She also ordered Doge staff to delete or purge any Social Security Administration data that it already had in its possession.

“The Doge Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” Ms Hollander wrote. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”

Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed that many more than 20 million people may be receiving Social Security benefits, despite being at such an advanced age that it is unlikely they are still alive. 

‘Missing dates’

Mr Dudek has pushed back on that claim, saying it represents a misunderstanding of how the agency keeps Social Security numbers and active beneficiaries in two separate databases.

But after Mr Trump repeated the claim in an address to Congress in March, Mr Dudek said the agency is nonetheless “actively correcting the inconsistencies with missing dates of death”.

That project was a major focus for 10 Doge team members at Social Security, many of whom had access to sensitive databases.

“Ironically, the identity of these Doge affiliates has been concealed because defendants are concerned that the disclosure of even their names would expose them to harassment and thus invade their privacy,” Ms Hollander wrote.

“The defence does not appear to share a privacy concern for the millions of Americans whose SSA records were made available to the Doge affiliates, without their consent, and which contain sensitive, confidential, and personally identifiable information.”

Immediately after the order, the Doge team members had their building and laptop access revoked, Mr Dudek said. 

Mr Dudek was himself a senior adviser on Social Security’s anti-fraud team before Mr Trump hand-picked him as acting commissioner in a remarkable weekend shake-up at the agency.

He is serving until Mr Trump’s permanent nominee, former Fiserv chief executive Frank Bisignano, is confirmed by the Senate.

Mr Bisignano’s confirmation hearing is on March 25.   

“The work of Doge is the work of all Americans,” Mr Dudek said. “They have helped us modernise our systems, improve our processes, prevented waste, and improved outcomes for citizens. The President should be proud.” BLOOMBERG