The Social Security Administration Is Gutting Regional Staff and Shifting All Public Communications to X
The Social Security Administration will no longer be communicating with the media and the public through press releases and 'dear colleague' letters, as it shifts its public communication exclusively to X, sources tell WIRED. The news comes amid major staffing cuts at the agency.
'We are no longer planning to issue press releases or those dear colleague letters to inform the media and public about programmatic and service changes,' said SSA regional commissioner Linda Kerr-Davis in a meeting with managers earlier this week. 'Instead, the agency will be using X to communicate to the press and the public…so this will become our communication mechanism.'
Previously, the agency used dear colleague letters to engage with advocacy groups and third-party organizations that help people access social security benefits. Recent letters covered everything from the agency's new identity verification procedures to updates on the accuracy of SSA death records ('less than one-third of 1 percent are erroneously reported deaths that need to be corrected,' the agency wrote, in contrast to what Elon Musk claims).
The letters and press releases were also a crucial communications tool for SSA employees, who used them to stay up on agency news. Since SSA staff cannot sign up for social media on government computers without submitting a special security request, the change could have negative consequences on the ability for employees to do their jobs.
It could also impact people receiving social security benefits who rely on the letters for information about access benefits. 'Do they really expect senior citizens will join this platform?' asked one current employee. 'Most managers aren't even on it. How isn't this a conflict of interest?' Another staffer added: 'This will ensure that the public does not get the information they need to stay up to date.'
The Social Security Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment by WIRED. Linda Kerr-Davis also did not immediately respond to a request for comment by WIRED.
Elon Musk, who is leading the charge to radically reduce the size of the federal workforce on behalf of President Trump, bought X (then Twitter) in October 2022. The platform has for years battled the spread of misinformation. After he purchased the company, Musk fired contract content moderators and shifted content moderation efforts to a crowd-sourced fact-checking tool called Community Notes. In 2023, an EU official warned the platform was a major source of fake news, based on a commissioned study that reported 'Twitter has the highest discoverability" of disinformation.
The regional office workforce will soon be cut by roughly 87 percent, sources tell WIRED. Regional office staff manage IT support, policy questions, labor relations issues, reasonable accommodations guidance, and public relations. Since February, the SSA has cut 7,000 jobs, according to the Washington Post .
Today, the agency has 547 employees working in the nearly dozen regional offices (previously, the number was closer to 700, but many people have retired, a current employee with knowledge of the staffing numbers says). After the cuts, the number is expected to be closer to 70. 'We know that you all depend on these folks to manage your front line, to help with questions,' said Kerr-Davis, who works in the Kansas City regional office. 'I'm going to be pretty candid here in sharing that the support will be pretty minimal until we can stand up our skinny regional office.'
Kerr-Davis acknowledged the restructuring could limit the agency's ability to combat fraud, a major goal of Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency. 'Won't losing subject matter experts lead directly to fraud, waste and abuse?' she asked on the call, reading a question from an SSA staffer. 'And yes, I mean, we do rely on [their] help…Things are going to break, and they're going to break fast.'
On the call, Kerr-Davis sounded resigned as she relayed news of the changes. 'I know this probably sounds very for foreign to you, it did to me as well,' she said. 'It's not what we are used to, but we are in different times now.'
Vittoria Elliott and David Gilbert contributed reporting.
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