According to a new report from the New York Times, the damage done to the Social Security Administration is extensive and deep, with offices woefully understaffed, calls going unanswered and remaining employees barely hanging on. As the Times' Tara Siegel Bernard reported, DOGE "sent the agency into a state of upheaval, while Mr. Musk and his lieutenants spread false claims of widespread fraud," adding, "shrinking the staff, before making technological improvements, has made an already difficult situation worse, particularly for Social Security's most vulnerable beneficiaries, many field staffers, legal advocates and researchers said."
According to one employee working out of an understaffed office in the Midwest, "In my 24 years, I have never seen it so bad, to the point that a lot of us are medicated."
"The agency already lost 1,230 field office workers from March through August, according to an analysis of agency data by the AFGE Council 220, a union that represents Social Security employees. Then, in July, roughly 1,000 field office workers were diverted to work on the national phone lines, which meant they had new responsibilities while local offices had fewer people to absorb the load," the Times reported.
The report added that people needing Social Security cards are facing waits of up to six weeks just for an appointment, and those who have questions about their payments are being left on hold.
DOGE might be storing every American's social security number in an unsecured cloud server: www.hsgac.senate.gov
No wonder SSA employees are on the verges of nervous breakdowns.
Good job Republican voters, you undermined your own country and your personal financial security.
Related ...
Senate staff probes DOGE, finds locked doors and windows covered with trash bags
arstechnica.com
... Democratic staffers investigated DOGE activities at the SSA, GSA, and Office of Personnel Management (OPM), resulting in the report written by staff for Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee. The report criticized the agencies for lack of cooperation.
"None of the agencies have allowed meetings with representatives from agency DOGE teams.
In the DOGE spaces staff were permitted to view, armed guards controlled access to work and living spaces, rooms were locked, and office windows appeared to have been hastily covered with black trash bags and tape," the report said.
At the GSA building, "officials refused to show staff at least six offices that GSA had allowed DOGE to convert into bedrooms," and refused to show staff the agency's Starlink broadband equipment, the report said.
In another instance described by the report, "GSA officials said they did not have the key to open a locked room that had windows covered with black paper, trash bags, and tape.
When staff asked why the most senior officials in offices charged with building management and security could not open an office door, GSA could not provide an answer."
The report said that during a site visit at the SSA building, the DOGE workspace was guarded by armed security. "SSA officials providing the tour confirmed that this level of security was unusual," the report said. "When staff asked why the additional security for the DOGE workspace was needed, Mr. [Dan] Callahan [the Assistant Commissioner for Building and Facilities Management] said that DOGE staff were concerned about threats to their safety. Staff asked whether these were direct threats and whether officials informed law enforcement. Officials explained that there had not been a specific threat, rather that some DOGE staff felt threatened based on a communication with an SSA employee that 'included cursing.'"
Aside from the security guard, the DOGE offices appeared to be empty on a Thursday afternoon, the report said. ...
Forgot the link for #7 ...
Federal agencies DOGE questions about what cost-cutting team is doing
www.theregister.com
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