It’s been a chaotic year, and Elon Musk hasn’t exactly been on the sidelines. He focussed on the Social Security Administration (SSA). Thanks to his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), several employees from the SSA have left their jobs. What was once a steady, if slow-moving, bureaucracy is now caught in a whirlwind of disruption, confusion, and growing public concern.
A Mass Exodus at the SSA
DOGE’s aggressive approach led to widespread resignations. Nearly half of SSA’s senior leadership and thousands of frontline employees reportedly left the agency within months. Meanwhile, DOGE obtained access to highly sensitive personal data, including Social Security numbers, birth dates, and benefit amounts which raised concerns about the privacy and security.
As employees tried to keep up with panicked Americans unsure if their benefits were safe, the internal stability of the SSA crumbled. Musk justified the intrusion by claiming that 40% of calls to SSA’s customer service line were from scammers.
Political Pressure and the War on Truth
SSA staff attempted to correct Musk’s misleading 40% claim shortly after he posted it online. According to the New York Times, before this could go public, the SSA received a warning call from Katie Miller, wife of Trump advisor Stephen Miller and she insisted that the number was accurate. “Do not contradict the president,” she reportedly told them.
Data Misunderstood, Misrepresented
In February, DOGE analysts gained access to Treasury Department records showing federal payments, including those made on behalf of SSA. Some recipients didn’t appear to have Social Security numbers; others seemed deceased. To Musk’s team, it was clear proof of widespread fraud.
But longtime SSA employees tried to explain that the data was misinterpreted. What DOGE saw as fraud was often just administrative anomalies or outdated records. Still, Musk wasn’t interested in clarification. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to accuse SSA of facilitating fraud, claiming benefits were going to “scammers and illegals.”
Although agency experts thoroughly reviewed the data and tried to explain there was no widespread fraud, DOGE brushed their analysis aside. Instead, they handed the job of digging into complex federal payment systems to a 21-year-old.
Commissioner Pushed Out, Claims Get Wilder
Musk claimed that millions of people over 120 years old were still getting Social Security checks. Never mind that the agency typically stops payments for anyone older than 115.
Still, the claim stuck. DOGE sent a dozen staffers into the agency to start marking people over 120 as dead. Internally, even DOGE admitted the cleanup wouldn’t actually stop fraud payments. At most, it might help other agencies with their own fraud issues.
Chaos at Field Offices and Public Fallout
One of the more damaging consequences of Musk’s false 40% scam call claim was a proposed overhaul of how people interact with the SSA. DOGE pushed for policy changes that would prohibit individuals from applying for benefits or updating personal info over the phone. The result? Thousands of retirees and people with disabilities rushed to overcrowded, understaffed SSA field offices across the country.
Newly appointed SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, who took office in May, finally acknowledged the 40% scam-call statistic was bogus. “We’re going to be a fact-based, rule-based organization that can count,” he told The New York Times.
In an ironic twist, despite the confusion and fallout, the agency later issued a statement saying: “The work that DOGE did was 100% accurate.” Whether that was genuine or damage control remains an open question.
Conclusion
What was pitched as a bold move to root out wrongdoing ended up causing chaos, confusion, and a serious loss of trust. The whole DOGE effort seemed less about facts and more about politics. For the millions of Americans who rely on Social Security, the damage wasn’t just bureaucratic, it was personal. And the fallout is still being felt.