Former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley is slamming the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s cuts to Social Security staff and warning that the administration is heading for meltdown within 90 days if it continues on its current trajectory, according to a report.
O’Malley, a former Governor of Maryland, told CNN that he believes DOGE, headed by Elon Musk, is cutting key government employees who manage delicate webs of computer systems at the Social Security Administration (SSA). According to O’Malley, these cuts will leave the agency vulnerable to outages that could result in delayed payments to the 73 million Americans who receive them.
While O’Malley has predicted a 90-day timeline for a potential SSA meltdown, other experts haven’t agreed on a specific date for a potential collapse.
“Everything they’re doing is driving this agency to system collapse,” O’Malley told CNN, referring to the reorganization conceived by DOGE and spearheaded by acting commissioner Leland Dudek. “It will lead to interruptions in service, and that will ultimately cascade into more frequent system interruptions for the processing of claims, ultimately leading to system collapse and eventually the interruption of benefits,” he added.
Dudek has previously stated that he is not the one giving orders to reorganize the SSA. “It’s DOGE – not the DOGE kids, it’s the DOGE management,” Dudek said at a staff meeting earlier this week, an attendee told CNN.
President Donald Trump has nominated financial tech CEO Frank Bisignano as his new head of Social Security—he currently awaits Senate confirmation.
Trump recently announced that his administration is investigating fraud within the SSA. “We’re also identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors,” he said in speech to Congress on Tuesday.
Following Trump’s speech, the SSA announced it was cutting employees internet access, preventing them from viewing news sites, online shopping retailers and sports pages.
While Trump has promised not to cut Social Security benefit unless he finds fraud within the program, it remains unclear what Musk and DOGE will deem to be fraud following their thorough investigation of the administration.
Originally published on Latin Times
