The Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Michelle King, resigned over the holiday weekend after refusing to hand over sensitive Social Security data to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the fledgling unofficial arm of the Trump administration.
According to The Washington Post, which first reported King’s resignation, President Donald Trump replaced King as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who has led SSA’s anti-fraud office. Trump had previously nominated Frank Bisignano, president and CEO of Fiserv, to lead the Social Security Administration. Bisignano is awaiting Senate confirmation before he can take over the agency that oversees retiree and disability benefits received by 73 million people.
King’s sudden resignation raised alarms among some prominent Social Security watchdogs.
“Former acting Social Security Commissioner Michelle King did the right thing by standing up to Elon Musk’s DOGE squad. Her resignation from SSA after more than 30 years of service was an act of integrity in defense of all Social Security beneficiaries, whose most personal data is at risk from Musk’s untrustworthy operation,” said Max Richtman, President & CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, in a statement released Tuesday.
Richtman’s statement went on to say it is not known precisely what data the DOGE team requested, but it likely was at a deeper level than Social Security numbers and birthdates.
“It’s possible that Musk’s team was trying to get their hands on even more sensitive data (including medical records, earnings history, family details) that is used to determine Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits,” Richtman said. “There is no justifiable reason for Musk and DOGE to have access to Americans’ deeply personal information, and his team lacks the qualifications to assess this data in any constructive way.”
“There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred.”
Nancy Altman, Social Security Works
Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, also released a statement titled, “Elon Musk is Stealing Your Personal Social Security Data,” in the wake of King’s resignation condemning DOGE for demanding access to Social Security data.
“The information collected and securely held by the Social Security Administration is highly sensitive,” she said. “There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred.”
She noted that older people are disproportionately susceptible to scams.
“The data at SSA leaking would make the numbers of scams skyrocket,” Altman said. “And, if there is an intent to punish perceived enemies, someone could erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you have earned.
Richtman also hinted at potential abuse of Americans’ data.
“Seniors, people with disabilities, and Americans everywhere of good conscience should be on high alert. When a dedicated public servant resigns after more than 30 years due to the intrusive activities of Elon Musk and DOGE, that truly is a ‘canary in a coal mine’ moment,” Richtman said. “The stakes are incredibly high because of the potential abuse of Americans’ personal data—and the very real risk that by monkeying with the Social Security system, Musk and DOGE just might break it.”
Musk began asserting that Social Security benefits are being claimed by people who appear to have died long ago while speaking from the Oval Office with President Trump last week. Musk said DOGE has performed a “cursory examination of Social Security, and we got people in there that are 150 years old,” Musk said during the press conference.
“Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as “ALIVE” when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem,” Musk recently posted on X in response to a comment from Senator John Fetterman (D-PA). Musk shared a screenshot of a spreadsheet purportedly showing more than 20 million people aged 100 or older on the Social Security’s system.
Richtman’s statement said Musk’s claims of systemic fraud at SSA already have been widely discredited. “Social Security is not a playground for Musk and his unqualified minions (who do not understand how Social Security works) to run amok,” Richtman said.
A 2023 report by the Social Security Office of the Inspector General identified about 19 million people born in 1920 or earlier with no death data on file, and that only 44,000 were still receiving benefits.
The 2024 report estimated $1.1 billion in improper Social Security payments, citing a “record-breaking backlog” of 5.2 million pending actions behind the improper payments. Between FY 2018-2023, the Agency’s pending actions backlog increased by 44% from 3.2 to 4.6 million pending actions.
As the backlog grew, many processing center pending actions remained unresolved for long periods of time resulting in larger improper payments, including growing underpayments or increasing overpayments to beneficiaries. In improper payment cases, the average processing time was 698 days, according to a sample evaluated by SSA OIG.
SSA cited unexpected staff reductions, increased workloads, and less than expected overtime funding that would have been used to pay employees to process more PC pending actions, as explanation for the record-breaking backlog. Social Security launched a comprehensive review in October 2023 of agency overpayment policies and procedures to address payment accuracy systematically. In 2024, SSA put in place new policies to make it easier for beneficiaries to resolve overpayment issues, loosening previous rules that called for clawing back 100% of the money beneficiaries received.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to correct a typo in the opening paragraph.
SEE ALSO:
• Trump Nominates Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano to Head Social Security
• Report Estimates $1.1 Billion in Improper Social Security Payments
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
