President Donald Trump’s interim head of the Social Security Administration (SSA) has threatened to shut down the agency unless Elon Musk’s team, DOGE, is granted access to the personal data of millions of Americans.
Lee Dudek, who is temporarily running the SSA, made the threat on Thursday. He argued that if Musk’s team can’t get access to sensitive data, he might stop Social Security employees from using the agency’s computer systems. This could put Social Security payments for seniors and people with disabilities at risk.
Dudek’s comments came after a judge issued a temporary order blocking DOGE from accessing Social Security’s personal data. The case was brought by the AFL-CIO labor union, which argued that giving DOGE, including Musk, unrestricted access to personal information violated privacy laws. The judge said that the SSA had likely broken laws by allowing DOGE to access Social Security numbers, medical records, and other private details about millions of Americans.
Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander said that DOGE had no clear reason to access this private information, and ordered that they must delete any personal data they already had. The judge also told the SSA to make sure DOGE only gets access to redacted or anonymized data after receiving training on privacy laws.
Despite this order, Dudek argued that following the judge’s decision would be too disruptive. He claimed that Social Security could not function without the help of Musk’s team. “My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates,” he said. “I will follow [the order] exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems,” Dudek added, according to Bloomberg News.
Dudek also suggested that the changes being made by DOGE—such as closing SSA offices and requiring people to visit in person to verify their identity—could overwhelm the system and prevent many seniors and disabled people from getting their payments.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has previously criticized Social Security, calling it a “Ponzi scheme” and making baseless claims about fraud. He has said he wants to cut billions in fraud from programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, though experts disagree with his claims.
In short, according to the Trump administration, Musk and his DOGE team must be able to access everyone’s private information, or Social Security for millions of Americans may come to a halt.
