“Musk’s Team Simply Did Not Understand the Data”: Maybe It Wasn’t a Great Idea to Let DOGE Loose on Social Security

While Elon Musk spent several months this year wreaking incalculable havoc across the federal government, he took a special interest in the Social Security Administration, where, thanks to DOGE’s handiwork, nearly half of the agency’s senior executives, as well as thousands of rank-and-file employees, have left their jobs. At the same time, DOGE gained access to the sensitive data of millions of people, and the existing workforce has had to deal with understandably panicked Americans who are worried about continuing to receive benefits. In March, Musk claimed DOGE’s work was necessary because fraud at the SSA was so bad that 40% of the calls to the agency’s customer service line were coming from scammers. But surprise: That wasn’t actually true, nor were a number of other justifications DOGE used to take a sledgehammer to the agency.

The New York Times reports that shortly after Musk made his 40% claim—and after journalists followed up with fact-checks—SSA staffers began to prep a correction. Then they got a call from Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, who insisted, “The number is 40%,” adding, “Do not contradict the president,” as Donald Trump believed Musk was right—and in an authoritarian regime, the president gets to decide what constitutes reality. But the members of Musk’s team didn’t just use untruths to justify their work at the Social Security Administration. They also used their own inability to analyze data, as well as massive hubris, to do so.

Per the Times:

…in early February, a DOGE team stationed at the Treasury Department gained access to crucial federal data: the payments the Treasury processed on behalf of government agencies. Inside that system, DOGE members saw taxpayer funds flowing to people who appeared not to have Social Security numbers, according to an internal memo viewed by the Times and people briefed on DOGE’s analysis of the Treasury data. Other recipients seemed to be dead.

None of it was evidence of wrongdoing, Social Security employees would later explain to DOGE. Mr. Musk’s team simply did not understand the data. But on X, Mr. Musk suddenly began accusing the agency of enabling “massive fraud,” saying in a flurry of posts starting Feb. 9 that Social Security payments had been going to scammers and “illegals.” At Social Security’s sprawling, Baltimore-area headquarters on Feb. 10, Mr. Musk’s team demanded action.

Agency experts performed “extensive analysis” to explain to DOGE that the payments were, in fact, valid, but because said experts were career civil servants, they were apparently not to be trusted, according to the Times, which spoke to people familiar with the matter. Instead, Team DOGE asked a 21-year-old DOGE hire to “conduct his own analysis,” which, yes, sounds a lot like the “I do my own research” people when it comes to whether they should vaccinate their kids. Anyway, the then acting commissioner pushed back on granting access to the personal data of millions of Americans—which could include SSN numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and benefit amounts, among other things—but, shocker, she was soon “forced out” of the administration.

Elsewhere, Musk took to social media in mid-February to suggest that millions of people over the age of 120 were still being paid Social Security, despite the fact that, with rare exceptions, the agency stops making payments to anyone listed as older than 115. That little detail did not sway the richest man in the world, who instead chose to…waste everyone’s time:

Nonetheless, false notions about dead people in Social Security’s database suddenly became a Trump administration priority. In total, a dozen DOGE members descended on the agency. DOGE leaders directed Social Security staff to set about marking people older than 120 as dead, court records show. On social media, Mr. Musk hailed the effort.

…But an internal memo from DOGE officials…acknowledged the cleanup project would not help the agency eliminate the relatively small number of payments to dead people, although it could aid anti-fraud efforts at other government departments that relied on Social Security data. “It will have no impact on benefits,” stated the DOGE memo, a copy of which was reviewed by the Times.

As for Musk’s claim that 40% of calls were coming from scammers? That led to a proposed policy change wherein people would no longer be able to file for benefits or change account information over the phone, causing freaked-out retirees and people with disabilities to descend on overworked, understaffed field offices. In an interview with the Times this month, Frank Bisignano, who was confirmed as SSA commissioner in May, acknowledged that the 40% figure was a fallacy, saying, “We’re going to be a fact-based, rule-based organization that can count.” Later, the agency told the outlet: “The work that DOGE did was 100% accurate.”