Retirees Panic As Social Security Site Fails Under DOGE Oversight

The Social Security Administration’s website has been crashing repeatedly, leaving millions of people, especially retirees and disabled individuals, unable to access their accounts, file claims, or check their benefits.

The Washington Post notes that the power outages coincide with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team, DOGE, pushing for thousands more job cuts across the agency—including in the technology department that manages the site.

The site has been down several times in the last few weeks, sometimes for almost a full day. Even when it is working, many users are unable to log in, or they find that information is missing or incorrect. The officials said that the problems are partly due to a new fraud-check system that was introduced without testing for high traffic, as reported by The Post.

The most alarming breakdown affected the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) system. For nearly two days, 7.4 million people saw a message falsely stating they weren’t receiving payments. The checks were still deposited, but the scare led to panic, as reported by The Post.

“Social Security’s response has been, ‘Oops,’” said Darcy Milburn from The Arc, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, as reported by The Post. “It’s woefully insufficient when we’re talking about a government agency that’s holding someone’s lifeline in their hands,” she added.

Meanwhile, the AP reports that a federal appeals court on Monday restored DOGE’s access to sensitive data at several agencies, including the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. The court decision lifted the restriction on DOGE data access while the lawsuit from teachers’ unions and veterans groups continues.

The current restriction on Social Security data access remains in place, but opponents worry that the restored access could lead to further breaches of privacy and expanded oversight by Musk’s team. The court majority sided with the Trump administration, arguing that IT upgrades may justify administrator-level access, as reported by the AP.

The Post reports that the company has discharged 7,000 staff members while announcing additional job reductions are coming. A senior official revealed that the company plans to terminate 800 employees from its current 3,000-person technology staff. The new CIO Scott Coulter who shares Musk’s views as an analyst has ordered IT to reduce its workforce by half.

At field offices, workers are overwhelmed. Systems to book and track appointments have crashed three times in 10 days. “We’re just spiking like crazy,” said a senior official, as reported by The Post. “It’s the sheer massive volume of freaked-out people,” he added.

The Post argues that the situation may get worse after April 14 when new ID checks are introduced for people applying for benefits online. The officials admitted the outages are under investigation but described them as “brief disruptions.”

Meanwhile, customers across the country are struggling. In California, 72-year-old Kathy Stecher couldn’t book an appointment online for days. In New York, 67-year-old Robert Raniolo tried for five days to update his emergency contact but kept getting error messages. “That’s why it’s so frustrating to me I can’t make a simple transaction,” he said, as reported by The Post.

In Massachusetts, Chris Hubbard panicked when she logged into her autistic son’s account and saw no record of benefits. “My mind was racing,” she said, as reported by The post. “The whole thing was very alarming,” she added.