SSA Worker: Why DOGE Could Be ‘Sabotaging' Social Security — and How That Affects You
Social Security has long been considered the untouchable 'third rail' of American politics. But a seasoned Social Security Administration (SSA) employee predicts that the upheaval resulting from recent restructuring initiatives implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is intended to 'destroy Social Security from the inside.'
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In an interview with The Daily Beast1 published on April 8, SSA claims technical analyst Rennie Glasgow said, 'We're being pushed to ensure that we cannot perform effectively and efficiently, so that they can privatize.
'I'm almost certain that the goal is privatization for this agency because there's a lot of money they want to get their hands on,' he said.
Glasgow, a 15-year veteran of SSA and vice president of Local 3343 of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents SSA workers, noted that the SSA is remarkably cost-efficient, spending just 1% of its budget on employee costs. In fact, the total administrative costs from both of Social Security's trust funds is less than 1%, according to the SSA.2
Glasgow's suspicion stems in part from workforce reductions that have increased wait times for phone help and in-person assistance. Exacerbating the delays are daily system outages that render staff at Glasgow's Schenectady, New York, office unable to help individuals who might already have waited several hours for their turn at a window.
Also concerning is DOGE's demand for secure access to SSA databases — a move Glasgow said circumvents strict controls on beneficiary information and essentially allows DOGE to make up its own rules as it goes.
Glasgow is not the only one who suspects that the DOGE-induced chaos is part of a concerted effort to discredit Social Security program operations. Earlier this month, Alex Jacquez, a former National Economic Council senior policy advisor and current chief of policy at Groundwork Collaborative, told Fortune,3 'My view is that the ultimate goal here is what has been the holy grail for Republicans for decades now, which is to privatize the Social Security Administration and privatize Social Security.
'There's already a long list of things that Elon [Musk] and the administration have basically floated as being services that they want the private sector to take over,' Jacquez said.
President Donald Trump says his administration won't touch Social Security, and Frank Bisignano, Trump's nominee for SSA commissioner, has denied hearing or thinking of plans for privatization.4 However, Musk is a vocal critic of Social Security. He has called the program a Ponzi scheme and made unsubstantiated accusations, often amplified by Trump, that the SSA is engaging in fraud5 — despite a 99.97% payment accuracy rate for Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, according to the Office of the Inspector General.6
As Glasgow noted, customer service is already suffering under the weight of cutbacks. That could get worse amid regional office closures and the loss of field and hearing offices due to lease terminations. But if his suspicions about privatization are correct, the restructuring could have a significant impact on Social Security benefits as well.
Under the current system, Social Security payroll taxes go into trust funds that invest the money in U.S. Treasuries, which offer predictable but low returns compared to the stock market. Privatization would allow beneficiaries to invest some or all of their payroll withholdings. Proponents say these investments could result in larger nest eggs because of higher returns.
Privatization opponents point out that Treasuries are extremely safe because they're backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. That safety allows the SSA to guarantee your Social Security retirement benefits. Stock market returns, on the other hand, are unpredictable and never guaranteed, so your retirement benefits couldn't be guaranteed, either.
It's important to remember that Social Security is only meant to replace about 40% of income at full retirement age, which is currently 67. However, a survey by The Senior Citizens League7 found that two-thirds of America's seniors rely on Social Security benefits for more than half of their income, and nearly half of seniors rely on it for 76% to 100% of their income. While higher benefits would have obvious advantages, they'd come at the expense of the safety net millions of seniors rely on to ensure that their most basic needs are met after they leave the workforce.
Sources
The Daily Beast, 'I Know Musk's Secret Blueprint to Destroy Social Security from The Inside.' (April 9, 2025)
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Social Security Administration, 'Social Security Administrative Expenses.'
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Fortune, 'Elon Musk's DOGE is undermining the Social Security Administration's technology and operations, former White House official says.' (April 1, 2025)
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ABC News, 'Trump SSA pick not seeking to privatize Social Security, will meet people 'where they want to be met.'' (March 25, 2025)
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NPR, 'Former head of Social Security says Elon Musk and DOGE are wrong about the agency.' (March 24, 2025)
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Payment Accuracy, 'Annual Improper Payments Datasets.'
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The Senior Citizens League, 'Two-Thirds of Seniors Rely on Social Security for More Than Half Their Income.' (Nov. 5, 2024)
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Dozens of protesters rallied outside the Justice Department's headquarters in Washington to criticize Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles, where Trump deployed the National Guard. 'Enough of these mass ICE raids who are sweeping up innocent people,' Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said June 9. 'Enough of the undermining of due process.' The Service Employees International Union organized the protest after the union's California president, David Huerta, was arrested in the Los Angeles protests. Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, told KNBC, Huerta allegedly obstructed law enforcement vehicles from getting into a facility where they were conducting a search warrant, citing video of the arrest. 'They tried to move him and then he got into a physical altercation with one of our agents and he resisted and he had to be pepper sprayed and subdued,' Essayli said. Participants at the Justice Department protest held signs that said, 'Free David. End ICE Raids' and 'Justice for David Huerta Now.' The rally was one of more than a dozen scheduled in cities across the U.S. to demand Huerta's release and an end to workplace immigration raids, the Los Angeles Times reported. − Bart Jansen Amid the mounting legal clash between the federal government and the state of California, Trump suggested that his border czar Tom Homan should arrest Newsom. 'I would do it … I think it's great,' Trump said when asked if Homan should arrest the governor, who has challenged the administration's mobilization of National Guard troops to crack down on violent protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles. Arresting Newsom, who responded to Homan's threat by daring the feds to arrest him in a June 8 social media post, would represent a major escalation of the state's widening rift with the Trump administration. − Davis Winkie LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell called the outbreak of violence "disgusting" and said it had grown worse Saturday. He said he does not believe the same people who were genuinely protesting immigration policy were involved in the violence. Newsom warned that violent protesters would be arrested and prosecuted. He also kept up his social media attack on Trump, saying California "didn't have a problem until Trump got involved" and that unrest is "exactly" what Trump wanted. "Let's get this straight: 1) Local law enforcement didn't need help. 2) Trump sent troops anyway — to manufacture chaos and violence. 3) Trump succeeded," Newsom wrote. "4) Now things are destabilized and we need to send in more law enforcement just to clean up Trump's mess." Family members of several people detained last week in an ICE sweep pleaded for the release of their loved ones at a press conference Monday. Elaina Jung Hee Vermeulen, with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, said she attempted on Sunday to meet with some of the detained warehouse workers. "Instead of allowing me to meet with community members, they jumped onto trucks in riot gear," she said. Vermeulen urged local leaders to protect the rights of working class immigrants and said ICE must be banned from entering workplaces. "Every single person who is here, who is figintg for a better life for their family, deserves to have their rights protected," she said. As South Dakota governor in February 2024, Kristi Noem threatened then-President Joe Biden when Democrats said he should federalize the National Guard in Texas to disrupt that state governor's anti-immigration efforts. If he did, Noem warned, Biden would be mounting a 'direct attack on states' rights,' and sparking a 'war' between Washington and Republican-led state governments, she said in a Feb. 6, 2024 interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. On June 8, Noem − now Trump's Homeland Security secretary − cheered Trump for doing the same thing to the Democratic governor of the state of California. On CBS News' Face the Nation Sunday, Noem explained her reversal by saying, "Governor Newsom has proven that he makes bad decisions." Read more here. − Josh Meyer A California sheriff running for governor isn't pleased with former Vice President Kamala Harris' reaction to the explosive protests. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a June 8 post on X that Trump is "not out there lighting cars on fire, hurling projectiles at law enforcement or blocking freeways.' The sheriff, whose county is just north of San Diego and the fourth-most populous county in the state, was responding to Harris' earlier statement where she said the deployment of the National Guard was "meant to provoke chaos.' Harris, who is mulling a bid for California governor next year, put much of the blame on the Trump administration's ICE raids and a "cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division." Bianco, who is also running for governor in 2026, is a long-standing Trump supporter who gained a bit of attention in 2021 for vowing not to enforce COVID-19 vaccine mandates in his office. He said Sunday the former VP's comments were 'an embarrassment." 'The Democrats and their 'leaders' own this,' Bianco added. − Phillip M. Bailey Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia, who co-founded the group Latinas for Trump, criticized his administration's recent immigration enforcement actions as 'unacceptable and inhumane' in a post on X. Her remarks come as federal agents have arrested immigrants in courthouses across the U.S., including Florida, stripping them of due process protections, as NBC News reported. 'I understand the importance of deporting criminal aliens, but what we are witnessing are arbitrary measures to hunt down people who are complying with their immigration hearings − in many cases, with credible fear of persecution claims − all driven by a Miller-like desire to satisfy a self-fabricated deportation goal,' she wrote in her post, referring to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. She said she stands with Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar, who wrote in a statement June 6 that 'anyone with a pending asylum case, status-adjustment petition, or similar claim deserves to go through the legal process.' − Sudiksha Kochi Trump border czar Tom Homan on Monday denied ever calling for the arrest of Newsom. Homan told Fox News that he was asked if Newsom or Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could be arrested and Homan responded that, if they commit a crime, they could be arrested. 'There was no discussion about arresting Newsom,' Homan said. Newsom had addressed the issue on social media, saying that "Trump's border czar is threatening to arrest me for speaking out. Come and get me, tough guy. I don't give a damn. It won't stop me from standing up for California." At 8 p.m. local time on Sunday, authorities declared the protest to be an unlawful assembly and moved in aggressively with flash-bangs and tear gas grenades. That sent hundreds of people running, their eyes streaming with tears. Helicopters clattered overhead as protesters fled the area to the honking of car horns and periodic cheers. According to preliminary information, police said at least 10 people have been arrested and three officers were injured during protests on Sunday. California Highway Patrol arrested 17 people on the 101 Freeway, police said. On Saturday, police arrested 29 people. The protests began Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps in the area resulted in more than 40 arrests. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, defended the raids and said those arrested by ICE included a Vietnamese man convicted of second-degree murder, an Ecuadoran man convicted of possession of five kilograms of cocaine, and a Filipino man convicted of sexual offenses. "These rioters in Los Angeles are fighting to keep rapists, murderers and other violent criminals loose on Los Angeles streets," McLaughlin said in a statement. "Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer." Protests against immigration enforcement policies were not limited to the Los Angeles area. In San Francisco, a demonstration that drew hundreds ended with violence and about 60 arrests, police said. "Individuals in the group became violent and began to commit crimes ranging from assault to felony vandalism and causing property damage," San Francisco police said in a statement. An unlawful assembly was declared and many left the scene while others vandalized buildings and police cars. Two officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries. "Individuals are always free to exercise their First Amendment rights in San Francisco but violence especially against SFPD officers - will never be tolerated," the statement said. Videos show Waymo cars on fire amid LA protests; service reportedly suspended Photos and videos show several Waymo self-driving cars being torched during the protests. The LAPD said one street had been closed indefinitely after "multiple autonomous vehicles" had been set on fire. Footage shared on social media captured several of Waymo driverless taxis engulfed in flames in the June 8 protests. Others were vandalized with messages against Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, videos show. Waymo suspended service in downtown Los Angeles and "will not be serving any rides in the protest area until it is deemed safe," a company spokesperson told NBC News. − Melina Khan This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marines heading to LA; Newsom says move is Trump's 'deranged fantasy'
