Acting Commissioner of Social Security Michelle King has resigned her position after refusing to hand over private Social Security data to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, according to news reports.
The Associated Press reported that King departed from the agency over the weekend after she refused to provide DOGE staffers at the SSA with access to sensitive information, quoting two people familiar with the official’s departure who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The White House has replaced King with Leland Dudek, who currently works at the SSA, the AP reported.
“President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks," Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, posted on X Monday. "In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner.
“President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long.”
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said Tuesday morning in a statement that "SSA has data on everyone who has a Social Security number, which is virtually all Americans, everyone who has Medicare, and every low-income American who has applied for Social Security’s means-tested companion program, Supplemental Security Income."
SSA, Altman continued, "has comprehensive medical records of people who have applied for disability benefits. It has our bank information, our earnings records, the names and ages of our children, and much more."
Further, Altman warned: "Older people are disproportionately susceptible to scams. The data at SSA leaking would make the numbers of scams skyrocket. And, if there is an intent to punish perceived enemies, someone could erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you have earned. There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., raised concerns in recent letter to King that the Social Security Administration "is the hub for storing Americans’ most sensitive medical and financial information," and that "DOGE’s access to SSA’s data system is an invasion of both Americans’ financial security and privacy."
"Former acting Social Security Commissioner Michelle King did the right thing by standing up to Elon Musk’s DOGE squad," added Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, in a statement Tuesday. "Her resignation from SSA after more than 30 years of service was an act of integrity in defense of all Social Security beneficiaries, whose most personal data is at risk from Musk’s untrustworthy operation."
Richtman added that "we do not know precisely what data the DOGE team requested (reportedly leading to King's resignation), but it likely was at a deeper level than Social Security numbers and birthdates. It’s possible that Musk’s team was trying to get their hands on even more sensitive data (including medical records, earning history, family details) that is used to determine Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits."
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.