Social Security head Michelle King steps down over DOGE information access: AP sources

WASHINGTON - The head of the Social Security Administration has stepped down over a request from the Department of Government Efficiency – or DOGE – to access recipient information, according to the Associated Press, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The exit of SSA Acting Commissioner Michelle King is one of several departures of high-ranking officials concerned about DOGE staffers' potential unlawful access to private taxpayer information.

SSA head Michelle King steps down, AP reports

What we know:

King refused to provide DOGE staffers at the SSA with access to sensitive information, the AP sources said on Monday. Her exit comes after more than 30 years of service. The White House has replaced her as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who currently works at the SSA, the people said.

What they're saying:

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields released a statement on Monday night saying: "President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner."

"President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long," Fields added.

The backstory:

President Donald Trump put his billionaire adviser Elon Musk in charge of DOGE to help eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in spending and trim the more than 2 million-person federal workforce. The department was created via executive order and is a temporary organization within the White House that will spend 18 months carrying out its mission.

Since Trump returned to the Oval Office, Musk has rapidly burrowed deep into federal agencies through the DOGE group, accessing Treasury payment systems and attempting to access Internal Revenue Service databases.

Musk spoke at a press conference last week and claimed DOGE had found wasteful Social Security spending, including evidence that the safety net program is paying benefits to 150-year-olds – though he didn't go into detail about the claims.

"There's crazy things, like, just a cursory examination of Social Security and we've got people in there that are about 150 years old," Musk said. "Now, do you know anyone that's 150? I don't. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, they're missing out."

"So, that's the case where, like, I think they're probably dead is my guess, or they should be very famous. One of the two," he added. 

The other side:

Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the preservation of Social Security benefits, said of DOGE's efforts that "there is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred."

"The information collected and securely held by the Social Security Administration is highly sensitive," she said. "SSA has data on everyone who has a Social Security number, which is virtually all Americans, everyone who has Medicare, and every low-income American who has applied for Social Security’s means-tested companion program, Supplemental Security Income."

"If there is an evil intent to punish perceived enemies, someone could erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you have earned."

Big picture view:

The Social Security trust funds have been projected to be depleted around 2035, and the future of Social Security has become a top political issue. About 72.5 million people, including retirees, disabled people and children, receive Social Security benefits.