Top Social Security Official Out After DOGE Tries to Access Data

Advocate says her replacement has reportedly already granted the access, however
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 18, 2025 12:30 AM CST
Top Social Security Official Out After Refusing Access to DOGE
FILE - A Social Security card is displayed Oct. 12, 2021, in Tigard, Ore.   (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency tried to access sensitive information at the Social Security Administration over the weekend, and Acting Commissioner Michelle King refused to grant it—and then stepped down from her position, multiple sources tell outlets including the Washington Post and the AP. A Trump administration official confirmed the news to CBS News, saying King resigned after the president replaced her with Leland Dudek, who previously headed the SSA's anti-fraud office. Trump's nominee for permanent commissioner of the agency, Frank Bisignano, must still be confirmed by the Senate.

Martin O'Malley, the SSA's commissioner under President Biden, said more than 100 members of the administration's senior executive service were overlooked in favor of Dudek, who has publicly praised DOGE's efforts, calling the move "chilling." "At this rate, they will break it. And they will break it fast, and there will be an interruption of benefits," he says. A top official also resigned after refusing to grant DOGE access to a sensitive Treasury Department database, and the agency is also attempting to access sensitive systems at the Internal Revenue Service and the Labor Department.

"There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is," says the president of a left-leaning Social Security advocacy group regarding DOGE's access to the SSA database, which she says the department now has. "If there is an evil 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." King had served at the SSA for more than three decades. (More Social Security stories.)

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