Following the sudden resignation of Michelle King on February 16 due to a clash with Elon Musk and his DOGE team over access to Social Security’s extensive database of personal information including Social Security numbers, bank account information and, in the case of disability beneficiaries, medical records, Leland Dudek was appointed new Acting Commissioner. Dudek, who was a manager in charge of Social Security’s anti-fraud office, will serve while Trump’s nominee for Commissioner, Frank Bisignano, is being vetted by the Senate.
In a statement Dudek promised openness, transparency, and accountability. He is supportive of DOGE’s efforts to identify fraud, waste, and abuse and made clear the following:
- Our continuing priority is paying beneficiaries the right amount at the right time, and providing other critical services people rely on from us.
- DOGE personnel CANNOT make changes to agency systems, benefit payments, or other information. They only have READ access.
- DOGE personnel do not have access to data related to a court ordered temporary restraining order, current or future.
- DOGE personnel must follow the law and if they violate the law they will be referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution.
He went on to acknowledge the high number of people over age 100 in their system, but said it’s because there is no date of death associated with them. These people are not receiving benefits.
A more comprehensive explanation can be found in this New York Times article, Millions of Dead People on Social Security? The Agency’s Own Data Says Otherwise. There are actually around 89,000 people age 99+ receiving benefits, based on the latest SSA data. The data Elon Musk was using included every person who was ever issued a Social Security number, and included 19 million who were still alive past age 100. SSA previously acknowledged in a 2023 Inspector General’s report that deaths were not always reported and that the system lacked controls for annotating death information for people who exceeded reasonable life expectancies. The agency decided at that time that it wasn’t worth it to go in and annotate the deaths because the people weren’t receiving benefits anyway and there would have been no real advantage to going in and marking some 19 million people as deceased who have long since died.