Alex Henderson, AlterNet
March 29, 2025
A woman holds a sign during a protest against cuts made by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to the Social Security Administration, in White Plains, New York, U.S., March 22, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Layne
The Trump Administration, with the help of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Assistance (DOGE), is targeting a wide range of federal government agencies for mass layoffs — including the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA)
The SSA was established 90 years ago when Congress passed the Social Security Act of 1935 and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed it into law as part of his New Deal. Social Security was one of FDR's most important accomplishments, and the programs defenders — including former SSA Commissioner/ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley — are warning that SSA layoffs could lead to delayed Social Security benefits for millions of seniors.
The Trump Administration and DOGE, O'Malley warns, are laying off so many knowledgeable SSA employees that it will be difficult for the agency to function in the months ahead.
READ MORE: 'Chaos': Social Security agency 'engulfed in crisis' as Musk cuts leave retirees in 'turmoil'
While O'Malley is warning about the SSA not having enough workers to function properly, Wired reporter Makena Kelly is sounding the alarm about another DOGE-related SSA problem: a tech problem.
In an article published on March 28, Kelly reports, "The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is starting to put together a team to migrate the Social Security Administration's (SSA) computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system — and the benefits on which tens of millions of Americans rely — at risk. The project is being organized by Elon Musk lieutenant Steve Davis, multiple sources who were not given permission to talk to the media tell Wired, and aims to migrate all SSA systems off COBOL — one of the first common business-oriented programming languages — and onto a more modern replacement like Java within a scheduled tight timeframe of a few months."
Moving from COBOL to Java or another modern program isn't necessarily problematic in and of itself, according to techies interviewed by Wired. But it needs to be done gradually and cautiously.
For SSA, Kelly stresses, the problem is trying to make the change too quickly.
"Under any circumstances," Kelly explains, "a migration of this size and scale would be a massive undertaking, experts tell Wired, but the expedited deadline runs the risk of obstructing payments to the more than 65 million people in the U.S. currently receiving Social Security benefits…. As recently as 2016, SSA's infrastructure contained more than 60 million lines of code written in COBOL, with millions more written in other legacy coding languages, the agency's Office of the Inspector General found."
An SSA tech specialist, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told Wired, "Of course, one of the big risks is not underpayment or overpayment per se; (it's also) not paying someone at all and not knowing about it. The invisible errors and omissions."
"Under any circumstances," Kelly explains, "a migration of this size and scale would be a massive undertaking, experts tell Wired, but the expedited deadline runs the risk of obstructing payments to the more than 65 million people in the U.S. currently receiving Social Security benefits…. As recently as 2016, SSA's infrastructure contained more than 60 million lines of code written in COBOL, with millions more written in other legacy coding languages, the agency's Office of the Inspector General found."
An SSA tech specialist, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told Wired, "Of course, one of the big risks is not underpayment or overpayment per se; (it's also) not paying someone at all and not knowing about it. The invisible errors and omissions."
Musk’s DOGE team emerges from the shadows
By AFP
March 28, 2025
Elon Musk's DOGE team gave their first joint interview
Danny KEMP
It has worked in the shadows for months, but Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has now offered the first peek behind the curtain of the government cost-cutting drive it launched on behalf of US President Donald Trump.
Musk, the Space X and Tesla tycoon, was accompanied by seven top aides in a joint interview to Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier late Thursday. They rejected criticism of their disruptive foray through the administration.
Despite mass layoffs in the US federal government, which have sparked an outcry, they said they wanted to offer an “Apple Store-like” consumer experience to Americans.
“This is a revolution,” declared Musk, the world’s richest man.
DOGE has so far kept a low public profile, amid reports of teenage computer wizards sleeping in a huge building adjoining the White House, and demanding access to government departments.
What emerged on television was a slightly different picture — a group comprised almost entirely of middle aged tech CEOs and Musk aides defending methods that have drawn widespread opposition.
They perched on chairs in two rows, with Musk flanked by two DOGE members in the front, and five on a raised platform behind.
The scene was a room in the White House complex designed for remote meetings — one that a senior Trump aide had recently dismissed as former President Biden’s “fake Oval Office” because he used it in a number of events.
Musk opened the interview, saying that DOGE aimed to finish its work by the end of May and that its goal was to be able to reduce federal spending by 15 percent, or from $7 trillion to $6 trillion.
– ‘Great user experience’ –
Then the others got their turn in the spotlight.
First up was Steve Davis, one of Musk’s top lieutenants who is effectively the chief operating officer at DOGE.
A former aeronautics engineer who has followed Musk through several companies including Space X and the social media platform X, he has long kept a low profile.
“Some people say this shouldn’t take a rocket scientist — but you are a rocket scientist,” Baier asked him.
“Used to be,” replied Davis.
The next was Joe Gebbia, co-founder of flat-sharing app Airbnb.
Gebbia who said he had been tasked to overhaul a system in which government retirement documents were kept on paper in abandoned mine in Pennsylvania.
“We really believe that the government can have an Apple store-like experience,” he said, referring to the sleek shops where the tech giant sells iPhones and other tech.
“Beautifully designed, great user experience, modern systems.”
The DOGE experience has been very different for many federal workers.
At least 113,000 federal workers have been fired so far under DOGE’s drive, according to a CNN tracker.
Musk’s team has also been tasked with slashing federal spending — and has effectively shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
There have also been widespread criticisms about the process, including demands from DOGE that federal employees account for the work they have been doing in a bullet pointed memo or face the sack.
And DOGE has faced claims of causing disruption to the US social security system, and of overstating its savings.
Several recent polls indicate that most Americans disapprove of the disruption to the nationwide federal workforce.
Musk however was unrepentant, saying that the biggest complaints were coming from “fraudsters”, without giving evidence.
The tycoon also used the interview to say that Trump’s administration would crack down on people spreading “propaganda” about Tesla, after a number of incidents in which the electric vehicles have been vandalized in protest against Musk.
“Those are the real villains here, and we’re going to go after them,” said Musk, making a two-fingered shooting gesture with his hand.
By AFP
March 28, 2025
Elon Musk's DOGE team gave their first joint interview
- Copyright POOL/AFP Jim WATSON
Danny KEMP
It has worked in the shadows for months, but Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has now offered the first peek behind the curtain of the government cost-cutting drive it launched on behalf of US President Donald Trump.
Musk, the Space X and Tesla tycoon, was accompanied by seven top aides in a joint interview to Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier late Thursday. They rejected criticism of their disruptive foray through the administration.
Despite mass layoffs in the US federal government, which have sparked an outcry, they said they wanted to offer an “Apple Store-like” consumer experience to Americans.
“This is a revolution,” declared Musk, the world’s richest man.
DOGE has so far kept a low public profile, amid reports of teenage computer wizards sleeping in a huge building adjoining the White House, and demanding access to government departments.
What emerged on television was a slightly different picture — a group comprised almost entirely of middle aged tech CEOs and Musk aides defending methods that have drawn widespread opposition.
They perched on chairs in two rows, with Musk flanked by two DOGE members in the front, and five on a raised platform behind.
The scene was a room in the White House complex designed for remote meetings — one that a senior Trump aide had recently dismissed as former President Biden’s “fake Oval Office” because he used it in a number of events.
Musk opened the interview, saying that DOGE aimed to finish its work by the end of May and that its goal was to be able to reduce federal spending by 15 percent, or from $7 trillion to $6 trillion.
– ‘Great user experience’ –
Then the others got their turn in the spotlight.
First up was Steve Davis, one of Musk’s top lieutenants who is effectively the chief operating officer at DOGE.
A former aeronautics engineer who has followed Musk through several companies including Space X and the social media platform X, he has long kept a low profile.
“Some people say this shouldn’t take a rocket scientist — but you are a rocket scientist,” Baier asked him.
“Used to be,” replied Davis.
The next was Joe Gebbia, co-founder of flat-sharing app Airbnb.
Gebbia who said he had been tasked to overhaul a system in which government retirement documents were kept on paper in abandoned mine in Pennsylvania.
“We really believe that the government can have an Apple store-like experience,” he said, referring to the sleek shops where the tech giant sells iPhones and other tech.
“Beautifully designed, great user experience, modern systems.”
The DOGE experience has been very different for many federal workers.
At least 113,000 federal workers have been fired so far under DOGE’s drive, according to a CNN tracker.
Musk’s team has also been tasked with slashing federal spending — and has effectively shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
There have also been widespread criticisms about the process, including demands from DOGE that federal employees account for the work they have been doing in a bullet pointed memo or face the sack.
And DOGE has faced claims of causing disruption to the US social security system, and of overstating its savings.
Several recent polls indicate that most Americans disapprove of the disruption to the nationwide federal workforce.
Musk however was unrepentant, saying that the biggest complaints were coming from “fraudsters”, without giving evidence.
The tycoon also used the interview to say that Trump’s administration would crack down on people spreading “propaganda” about Tesla, after a number of incidents in which the electric vehicles have been vandalized in protest against Musk.
“Those are the real villains here, and we’re going to go after them,” said Musk, making a two-fingered shooting gesture with his hand.
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