Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Washington Post reports:
Leaders of the Social Security Administration had just opened an investigation into a career employee they believed was improperly sharing information with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team when President Donald Trump elevated the employee this week to acting commissioner.
The agency’s leadership team became aware in recent weeks that Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office who had been unknown to many of them, was sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service.
It’s not clear what data Dudek shared, but his actions raised enough alarm that he may have violated privacy and tax laws that senior officials placed him on paid leave as they launched their investigation. The officials, including attorneys in the general counsel’s office, also were notified late last week that Dudek had sent harassing emails to employees in the agency’s personnel and security divisions.
ProPublica reports:
In a since-deleted LinkedIn post, Dudek acknowledged that he had been surreptitiously feeding information to DOGE before his promotion. “I confess,” he wrote.
“I helped DOGE understand SSA. I mailed myself publicly accessible documents and explained them to DOGE… I confess. I bullied agency executives, shared executive contact information, and circumvented the chain of command to connect DOGE with the people who get stuff done.”
He added: “Everything I have ever done is in service to our country, our beneficiaries, and our agency.”
Bloomberg News reports:
Dudek now heads the 58,000-employee agency, which oversees the nation’s old-age and disability entitlement programs, after the former acting commissioner, Michelle King, clashed with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency over access to Social Security beneficiary data.
King told associates she retired. Trump said Tuesday he didn’t know if she left of her own accord or was fired, adding that people like her should be forced out of their jobs.
In an email to Social Security employees Wednesday, Dudek said DOGE would have access to Social Security beneficiary data, a highly sensitive and controlled system that includes the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates, work histories and bank account information of millions of Americans.
Hit the ProPublica link for a deep dive.
Yet another scoop from @Reinlwapo and the @washingtonpost: New Social Security chief was being investigated when Musk team tapped him wapo.st/41qBKwR
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Leland Dudek was a middle-manager about to be put on administrative leave this time last week. Today he’s acting commissioner and saying shit like this:
www.ssa.gov/news/press/r…
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 5:17 PM
NEW — I wrote about Leland Dudek, a Social Security Administration (SSA) staffer who went from being on admin leave for aiding DOGE to acting head of the agency overnight.
I talked to multiple SSA employees about how this prolific LinkedIn poster became Musk’s poster boy for government allegiance:
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) February 20, 2025 at 1:26 PM