Untested new software installed by DOGE employees crashing Social Security servers: report
Retirees and other beneficiaries of funds distributed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) are having major problems accessing their online accounts since staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have assumed control of the agency
According to a report from the Washington Post, access to accounts has been unavailable for hours extending into days after new software was installed, with a message popping up reading “Online Service Not Available” and ending there.
As the Post’s Lisa Rein, Hannah Natanson and Elizabeth Dwoskin are reporting, “Even when the site is back online, many customers have not been able to sign in to their accounts — or have logged in only to find information missing. For others, access to the system has been slow, requiring repeated tries to get in.”
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The problems seem to stem from DOGE changes with the report adding, “Many of the network outages appear to be caused by an expanded fraud check system imposed by the DOGE team, current and former officials said. The technology staff did not test the new software against a high volume of users to see if the servers could handle the rush, these officials said.”
This follows complaints from staffers who have not been fired as part of Donald Trump’s attempt to restructure government, which led one employee to say the agency is in a “death spiral” since the takeover.
According to one employee who wished to remain anonymous, “It’s just been a lot of craziness, a lot of foolishness. Until they get rid of Doge and the person in office right now, and the Republicans actually get a backbone and stand up for something for once in their lives, things are just going to be complete chaos. That’s really the best word to describe SSA right now, just complete, utter chaos.”
They added, “They couldn’t understand the coding, so everything they said SSA was doing illegally, they weren’t. Common sense is something they lack. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
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On Monday the Post is reporting that massive panic set in last week after “many of the 7.4 million adults and children receiving monthly benefits under the anti-poverty program known as Supplemental Security Income, or SSI” were alerted they were “currently not receiving payments,” according to internal documents.
According to Darcy Milburn, director of Social Security and health-care policy at non-profit Arc, “Social Security’s response has been, ‘Oops.’ “It’s woefully insufficient when we’re talking about a government agency that’s holding someone’s lifeline in their hands.”
One senior staffer told the Post, “We’re just spiking like crazy. It’s people who are terrified that DOGE is messing with our systems. It’s the sheer massive volume of freaked-out people.”
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