Doga flirts with ‘third rail’ American policy – errors could delay or disrupt benefit, says the former highest social security official

• Social Insurance Administration It releases 12% of its workforce, and loss of expertise, especially on key systems, could take the risk because Doge is trying to look for fraud, a former employee at the Agency said.

Historically, playing with benefits for social security has long been considered a political “third rail”, which means that anyone will touch it.

The White House said ua a statement It will not reduce benefits for social security, Medicare or Medicaid, but that does not exclude the chances of error.

In the midst of the efforts to reduce the costs of the Ministry of State Efficiency in Federal Agencies in recent weeks, the former highest Social Insurance Officer is concerned about the interruption of benefits because the Agency loses expertise while Doga is looking for fraud in its systems.

In February SSA posted a statement Announcing plans to release approximately 12% of their 57,000 employees through voluntary resignation and a plan of reducing force. In the meantime, President Donald Trump and the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, a figure for Doge, have asked for a fraud to a large extent, although experts said it was limited.

However, Doge seeks evidence and seeks complete access to SSA’s warehouse for data on the company (EDW), which contains information on anyone who has a social security number, including financial and banking information, according to a declaration Former Tiffany Flick official was filed in the lawsuit last week.

She said that the SSA usually does not provide complete access to all data systems – not even the most skilled and highly trained experts – to protect against unintentional or unauthorized changes in the system.

Flick said that Doge to the officials had no interest in understanding SSA systems and programs, while neglecting critical processes such as providing the “least privileged” approach based on knowledge need.

“This is combined with a significant loss of expertise as more and more staff agencies, I was seriously interested in the fact that SSA programs would continue to function and act without a disorder,” she said.

Flick said an unintentional mistake is the risk of “payments not paid or delays in payment.”

The SSSA IT technology programs consist of complex systems that use old programming languages ​​that require specialized knowledge, she warned, adding that they are easily broken if long -term procedures are not obeyed.

“I understand that Doge Associates are looking for access to the” original code “of SSA systems,” Flick wrote. “If they are approved, I am not convinced that such associates have a necessary understanding of SSA to avoid critical errors that could increase SSA systems.”

Apart from the concern in terms of use, Flick is not convinced that Doge has an appropriate experience to prevent sensitive information from entering the hands of bad actors.

“In such a chaotic environment, the risk of leaking data in the wrong hands is significant,” she said.

Andrew Biggs, said an older associate of the American Enterprise Institute Axios The agency could increase productivity and efficiency, but suspected Doge’s ability to do so for lack of experience.

“It’s just hard for me to accept that you can get there when you were there for only a few weeks and making these far -reaching changes have completely thought about their consequences,” he said.

Biggs says checks are automated and will not be disrupted, possible user service disorders bring concern for budget reduction.

“It’s a type of foot race between whether I can improve service before these cuts affect the service,” Biggs said.

White House, American Doge Service and SSA have not responded Happiness Request for comment.

This story is originally shown on Fortune.com

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