Social Security chief backs down on threat to shut down agency after DOGE ruling

NBC News

22-03-2025

WASHINGTON — Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek is backing down on a threat to cease operations at the agency after a federal judge blocked staffers at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive data housed at the agency.
Dudek's reversal comes after U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander on Thursday granted a request by several union groups seeking to stop 'DOGE affiliates' from accessing the personal and private data of millions of Americans, including their Social Security numbers, medical records, birth and marriage certificates, bank and credit card information and tax information.
Hollander said DOGE was engaged in a 'fishing expedition' for fraud based on 'little more than suspicion' and said the temporary organization 'never identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE Team needs unlimited access to SSA's entire record systems.'
Dudek, in a series of interviews following the judge's decision, criticized the ruling as being overly broad and threatened to terminate access to sensitive data for every employee at the agency, arguing they could all be considered 'DOGE affiliates.'
'My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates,' Dudek said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday. 'As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems.'
'Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency,' he added.
In a pair of letters Friday, Hollander called Dudek's interpretation of her ruling 'inaccurate,' clarifying that her decision should have 'no bearing on ordinary operations at SSA.'
'Employees of SSA who are not involved with the DOGE Team or in the work of the DOGE Team are not subject to the Order. A DOGE Affiliate is defined in the Order as a person working on or implementing the DOGE agenda,' Hollander wrote.
Dudek hours later walked back his threat.
'The Court issued clarifying guidance about the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) related to DOGE employees and DOGE activities at the Social Security Administration (SSA). Therefore, I am not shutting down the agency,' he said in a statement Friday. 'SSA employees and their work will continue under the TRO.'
Dudek's predecessor, Michelle King, departed the agency last month after refusing to comply with DOGE's bid to access sensitive government records at the agency.
Holland's ruling is one of several concerning attempts by DOGE employees to access private data at multiple federal agencies.
In February, a federal judge temporarily blocked DOGE staffers from accessing sensitive information stored within the Treasury Department after 19 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit claiming the staffers had no authority to access the information.
Another DOGE staffer in February was granted limited access to anonymized taxpayer information housed within the IRS after reaching an agreement with the agency.