Rep. Gerry Connolly is calling for an immediate investigation into what he says are chaotic and dangerous efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to overhaul the Social Security Administration (SSA) and its technology systems, warning that those actions are “putting SSA benefits and Americans’ sensitive data at risk.”
In an April 17 letter sent to Michelle Anderson, the assistant inspector general for audit performing the duties of the inspector general at the SSA, Rep. Connolly cited new whistleblower allegations that claim DOGE is knowingly jeopardizing SSA operations.
“It is my hope that shedding sunlight on the opaque operations of DOGE at SSA will stop further damage to the agency and prevent a potentially calamitous disruption to the benefit payments that serve as a lifeline for more than 70 million Americans,” Rep. Connolly wrote.
At the heart of the lawmaker’s concerns are three major allegations: large-scale IT and staffing disruptions already degrading service; a rushed plan to rebuild the agency’s core systems dubbed “SSA 2.0”; and an unprecedented, potentially unlawful effort to aggregate Americans’ data into a “master database” using information from SSA and other Federal agencies.
According to whistleblower allegations, Rep. Connolly said that “repeated IT failures are happening at SSA.” For example, he said critical data collection “batch jobs” that run behind the scenes to handle large amounts of data have failed.
These batch jobs are “essential” to keeping SSA operations running smoothly, Rep. Connolly said, as they “help gather and process the data needed to calculate accurate benefit payments.”
“While occasional batch job failures can happen in any large organization, staffing cuts, especially in SSA’s IT department, have reduced the agency’s ability to fix these issues quickly,” he explained. “As a result, small, manageable problems can spiral into major disruptions. When batch jobs fail and are not fixed in time, it can delay or even stop payments to Social Security recipients.”
Rep. Connolly also said he has received information that the Trump administration plans to rapidly rip out and replace critical IT systems “without adequate planning and preparation.”
SSA’s core IT systems depend on legacy code written in Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) – a language dating back to the 1950s. SSA previously estimated that transitioning off of the legacy code would require a five-year modernization effort, but whistleblowers say DOGE now plans to replace its COBOL systems with modern systems “in a matter of weeks or months.”
“Undertaking such a modernization effort over the course of mere weeks or months and with little advance preparation threatens to cause significant operational disruptions,” Rep. Connolly wrote. “I agree that the Federal government needs to address legacy systems across agencies; however, successfully undertaking such a task requires significant organization and advanced planning, including congressionally appropriated funds and oversight of both execution and evaluation.”
Finally, the lawmaker highlighted reported efforts by DOGE to combine sensitive information held by SSA, the IRS, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other Federal agencies into a single cross-agency “master database.”
According to whistleblowers, DOGE personnel have used “backpacks full of laptops, each with access to different agency systems,” to combine databases that are currently maintained separately by different Federal agencies.
“I am concerned that DOGE is moving personal information across agencies without the notification required under the Privacy Act or related laws, such that the American people are wholly unaware their data is being manipulated in this way,” Rep. Connolly said.
The lawmaker asked SSA’s acting inspector general to investigate whether the agency has sufficient staff to support its technology, whether SSA has “adequately prepared” for the rapid transformation of its IT systems off COBOL, and whether it is taking the “necessary steps to protect sensitive information.”
Rep. Connolly said the investigation should examine nearly all of DOGE’s actions related to SSA since Jan. 20 – when President Donald Trump returned to office.