Musk Pushes New Offensive Against Social Security That Could Affect Benefits Application

An internal memo from the Social Security Administration is proposing changes to its phone services as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to tout slashing some of the the agency's funding.

The memo, obtained by Axios and signed by acting deputy Social Security commissioner for operations Doris Diaz on March 13, was written on behalf of the agency's operations department and proposes changes that will further limit what people can do by phone with the agency. Under the proposal, phone service would still be available to people who call the agency and don't need to verify their identity, like someone making a general inquiry.

The draft of the memo says the proposed limitations will be "significant" for those living in rural areas in particular, according to Axios.

Currently, if a person is unable to verify its identity using the agency's online system, they can still complete the process by phone. But the new proposals would end that option, recommending the agency address "fraud risk" by requiring applicants, who can't use online verification, to do it in-person at local field offices. That could present hurdles for users, especially those living in rural areas.

The latest version of the memo acknowledges that "Service Disruption" and "Operational Strain" is "a risk and challenge" of implementing this plan. There would be "increased field office traffic, longer call wait times and delayed processing," Diaz writes. The agency is notoriously plagued by long call wait times and delayed processing at the moment.

Diaz also acknowledges in the memo that the proposed verification requirements would affect more "vulnerable populations," though she doesn't specify who she is referencing. An earlier version of the memo goes into more detail about its significance, which was omitted from the final version sent to Dudek.

"The consequence of reduced service channels could be significant," the initial memo said. "For example, an individual who closes a bank account could have benefits suspended if unable to access in-person service." Or, "an individual plainly entitled to benefits is prevented from applying."

The memo was sent one day after the agency denied, in a press release, a report that detailed it was scrapping its toll-free phone line. That shift would have directed elderly and disabled people to rely on the internet and in-person field offices to process their claims, curtailing a service that 73 million Americans have relied on for decades to access earned government benefits.

The phone service proposals came less than a month after members of the DOGE team arrived at Social Security headquarters and began looking for ways to cut what they labeled "fraud, waste and abuse" as part of their mandate from President Donald Trump to slim down the government. Similarly, Musk has hinted at cutting down the agency's funding based on a baseless claim that 150-year-old— and even people who have lived more than three centuries— are somehow receiving tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money.

The anti-fraud campaign at Social Security also mirrors a long-standing obsession by Musk, whose takeover of the platform then called Twitter— as well as his argument to exit the deal to buy it— was premised on a similar quest to root out fraudulent bots that masqueraded as real human beings on the service, The Washington Post reports.

"His playbook has now become quite clear," said Paul Barrett, deputy director of the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University, referencing the parallel quest for fraud in the 2022 Twitter acquisition. "It is an extraordinary game he plays of wrecking institutions in order to dominate them."