The Elon Musk’s government Ministry of Eltern effectiveness now has 10 members of the Social Security Administration staff while Trump’s White House is looking for evidence in support of its assertion that there could be millions of deaths that benefit from public advantages.
On Wednesday, two statements under oath filed before the Federal Court show that the SSA has made staff in recent weeks to include four special government employees and six other Doge employees loaned by other departments.
Their mission: detect waste, fraud and abuse in the country’s 90 -year social insurance agency.
Musk described social security as “Ponzi program” and suggested this week that there could be up to $ 700 billion per year of law fraud. Critics said he was setting up a decision to reduce the popular program. Others are concerned about the fact that the Musk team has access to the most sensitive data of the Americans.
From 2015 to 2022, Social Security estimated that it made nearly $ 72 billion in inappropriate payments – less than 1% of the services paid, according to an inspector generalreportLast year. However, all this amount was not due to fraud, and all except $ 23 billion could be recovered.
At least seven DOGE employees have obtained access to a database known as the master file for social security numbers and SSN applications, also known as Nudent. They currently have access to reading alone because they try to link the points between social security numbers and possible fraudulent advantages.
This database often lacks death dates, a fact that President Donald Trump and Musk, his billionaire advisor, used as a complaints that more than 20 million people in 100 are still on the roles of Social Security.
“And money is paid to many of them, and we are looking for at the moment,” said Trump in aspeechAt Congress last week.
Leland DUDEKAn anti-fraud expert that Trump promoted the acting Social Security Commissioner last month after Dudek was suspended for cooperating with Doge, rejected these allegations.
Just because a death date is absent from the number of numbers does not mean that payments are made, said Dudekstatement. These are managed in a separate database, the registration of the main beneficiary.
“We are firmly in our commitment to eliminate fraud, waste and abuses in our programs, and corrects it active inconsistencies with missing dates of death,” he said.
Data on death
Indeed, at least six employees of the agency Doge work with the data of death. The Social Security Administration maintains a death file of more than 94 million deaths indicated to state files and funeral directors.
The other databases used in the hunting are the additional security file, which contains data on the payment files for disability and treasure services. Databases in advantages may also contain limited information from taxpayers used to calculate the eligibility for benefits.
DOGE has access to database copies, limiting the possibility of making changes, said agency technology director Michael Russo, in a sworn press release. There are guarantees to ensure that there are no private servers related to SSA data, he said.
Russo’s declaration was included in a judicial file on Wednesday evening in a trial brought by the American County Federation and municipal employees. The union of public employees brought an action against DOGE and the Social Security Administration based in Maryland, trying to block what it calls “unprecedented data”.
“The overall objective of the work carried out by the SSA DOGE team is to detect fraud, waste and abuse in SSA programs,” said Russo. “This level of access ensures that these employees can examine the records necessary to detect fraud, but does not allow them to modify the data or payment files of the beneficiaries.”
Neither Russo nor the assistant commissioner Florence Felix-Lawson, who filed a separate statement under oath, would identify the members of the staff of the Doges by name, “to avoid exposing them to threats and harassment”.
But the government’s special employees and the agency detailed DOGE include the former member of the Tesla board of directors, Antonio Gracias, of Valor Equity Partners; Scott Coulter, formerly of Lone Pine Capital; And Marko Elez, rebalanced by Doge and sent to Social Security after having resigned from the Treasury Department for racist publication reports on social networks.
Social Security Administration has become a key to Doge, as it administers 1.6 Billion of dollars in annual advantages but also because of its unique position to access a wide range of government data. Indeed, hunting with fraud in social security also radiates in other federal agencies.
Two members of the DOGE team also have access to the National Directory of New Hires, a database preserved by the Office of Children’s Wounthing Pension Services of Health and Social Services to help States apply child alimony.
And a member of the Security Doge social team will soon be sent to Small Business Administration.
The court file also shows how the members of the DOGE team can go from the agency to the agency. Six members of Social Security personnel are ready by other agencies, notably the National Aeronautical and Space Administration, the Office of Staff Management, the Department of Labor and the General Services Administration.
And we come from the US DOGE SERVICE, the White House agency created by Trump’s executive decree of Trump Creation of the cost reduction initiative.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
