When Elon Musk asked federal employees to send an email listing out five things they accomplished in the past week, most agency heads told their workers not to respond to the directive from President Trump’s billionaire advisor. That is not the case with Leland Dudek, the recently appointed acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), who took a different tack by sending a staff email of his own email on Monday touting accomplishments—including his recent dismissal of several employees.
Addressed to President Donald Trump, Dudek’s bullet-pointed list, viewed by Coins2Day, describes how he has led SSA to “accelerate the enactment of the Social Security Fairness Act,” signed into law by former President Joe Biden, and “terminate 14 employees.” He thanked the president for “the opportunity to report on our work.”
Acting commissioner for just a week, Dudek has already caused a stir at SSA. An enthusiastic supporter of Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Dudek was reportedly placed on administrative leave earlier this month under suspicion of sharing unauthorized access to information with Musk’s team. When the acting head of the agency stepped down after not providing DOGE with sensitive information, Trump selected Dudek as her replacement, bypassing other career senior executives in the selection of the mid-level staffer.
Dudek’s changes to Social Security will be subject to scrutiny since any disruption to the benefits payments will be met with outrage by the seniors, disabled Americans, and others who rely on them. Indeed, unions and retiree groups are suing the organization to limit DOGE’s access to Americans’ most private financial and medical information.
Democratic lawmakers are also concerned about potential changes at SSA and DOGE’s access to the information housed within the agency, which includes Americans’ bank and credit card information, citizenship status, IRS records, employment records, and more.
All of that data could have “significant commercial value,” a group of senators wrote in a recent letter to Dudek, and there are many privacy laws in place to protect it that DOGE does not appear to be following.
The Trump administration has promised not to touch Social Security, from which some 73 million Americans receive monthly payments. The president has proposed in the past eliminating taxes on Social Security payments, though it is unclear whether that tax break will make it into the current budget negotiations. The agency said Tuesday that it had started making retroactive payments under the the Social Security Fairness Act, which will benefit some teachers, firefighters, police officers, and federal employees.
Also in the “recent accomplishments” email, Dudek told SSA staffers to “be proud of the important work that you do.” SSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the email.
