Cnn
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Social Security Administration plans to reduce its technological team about half At a time when the agency’s complex and fragile computer systems are blocking more often.
The senior executives of the agency’s office of the information director, known as Ocio, were responsible for reducing 50% of its staff as part of a large -scale reduction being implemented through the federal government, according to a former employee with direct knowledge of the plan. The office had around 3,200 employees, although it has already lost hundreds of experienced workers due to retirement and separation incentives. (He also won certain staff members after the agency has closed other divisions and transferred the functions to Ocio.)
The objective was 30%, but the agency increased it at the request of the White House, said the former employee.
The planned purge occurs while the agency’s long glitch technology suffers from more breakdowns than usual, the current and former employees of many, as well as the defenders, told CNN. The increased number of Americans has also added stress on systems, the increased number of Americans concerned accessing the public site “My Social Security”, calling number 800 and visiting local offices in the middle of the turmoil surrounding the agency massive restructuring.
This week alone, the “My Social Security” site was down for several hours, with a message reading “online service not available”. Then, a technological update involving the authentication of identity led to a longer breakdown for beneficiaries of additional security income, preventing them from access to their online accounts, according to a former employee. Certain recipients, who are older on -income and disabled, have seen an erroneous message that they do not currently receive payments, according to an internal note from employees who have been read in CNN.
“These are the risks,” the former employee told CNN. “You lose personnel who has institutional knowledge, and when something happens, you cannot recover, or you need much more time to recover. The involvement is that American people get degraded services on the technological side because people are under-employed.”
The agency, which is managed by The acting commissioner Leland Dudek While Trump’s candidate, Frank BisignanoWaiting for confirmation, did not return a request by asking for comments.
Office staff on the ground have encountered more frequent problems in the past few weeks that temporarily prevent them from helping customers, two union representatives work in local offices said in CNN. They said they saw more internal opinions that problems with one or more defective software is resolved.
“If the system is decreasing, we cannot examine a file to be able to take a complaint or help the beneficiaries in a problem after having obtained advantages,” said Angela Digeronimo, executive vice-president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 220, which represents Social Security employees in the field offices, the teleservation centers television. And other units that help customers. “If the system is down, we do not have the tools to give the beneficiary the answer he is looking for.”
The increase in technological problems prompted certain former social security leaders – notably Martin O’malley, who was a commissioner during the last year of the Biden administration – warning that a Payment disturbance could occur in the coming months. More than 73 million retirees, people with disabilities and others receive social security benefits each month.
In the midst of these warnings, the Trump administration aims at the agency’s unionized technological workforce. President Donald Trump signed a executive decree Last week, aimed to eliminate numerous collective negotiation rights from federal workers, which would facilitate dismissal or change their functions. Trump said this decision is intended to strengthen national security, but the white house’s information sheet has also noted that “some federal unions have declared war on President Trump’s agenda”.
The only union workers who would be affected by Social Security are those of the OCIO, who have about 1,300 after taking into account those who took various incentives from, said Shelley Washington, executive vice-president of local Afge in 1923, which represents office staff. The agency told AFGE that she was examining the decree.
The administration also pursues several residents of AFGE before the Federal Court of Texas, seeking to release several agencies, including Social Security, from their collective negotiation agreements.
Without a union contract in place, it would be easier for Social Security to replace the staff of the Ocio with staff who are “more likely to do what they want to do,” said Washington, referring to the efforts of the Elon Musk Government Department to access databases containing hundreds of millions of personal information from the Americans, which were temporarily arrested by a federal judge.
Admittedly, the obsolete public and internal systems of social security have long experienced breakdowns. During one of the agency’s weekly operational meetings last month, which was published on The agency’s YouTube siteDudek asked if he had dismissed someone who altered the operations of my social security or databases. Wayne Lemon, deputy director of information for the implementation, replied no.
The acting commissioner then asked if the team had the resources it needed to maintain the stability of the systems, to which Lemon said he had what he needed for the moment.
“There is nothing, I will call it” unusual “, about these breakdowns, in itself,” said Lemon, answering the question of Dudek on the question of whether these problems have occurred in the past.
Dudek has recognized the concerns that many Americans now have on their personal information and advantages.
“I think we have a lot of customers who, at the moment, many Americans, who are very uncomfortable, and they must understand that we protect their data and that we will always have their data,” he said. “And we can make sure that their profits file reflects the advantages they will receive, now and in the future.”
Ocio to come to the OICIO is part of the agency’s efforts to reduce its workforce by 7,000 staff membersor 12%. However, the overhaul has no strategic planning, which attracted concerns about the ability of employees to manage technological problems, said former officials and defenders.
The main social security computer systems operate on an aging programming language known as the cobol (common commercial language). It is no longer taught, which makes the old hands of the agency even more essential when it comes to maintaining technology in operation and treating things that go wrong. In addition, there are 3,600 intra-connected applications that operate the agency.
But social security is now losing staff who can prevent improvements from becoming breakdowns by testing and including the implications of the modifications made, said a former official. In addition, it is very difficult to reduce the number of employees until computer systems are simplified.
“You cannot cut the staff as long as you have not cut the complexity in your application portfolio,” said the former official. “They really do it upside down on many fronts.”
Cable reported Last week, DOGE plans to rewrite the Cobol Social Security code in a few months, which alarmed former officials and defenders.
“It is reckless to do so so quickly,” CNN Kathleen Romig, director of social security policy and disability at CNNE on the left on the budget and political priorities, told CNN. “It prepares you for a possible disaster.”
This article has been updated with additional developments.