Social Security targets tech team for cuts at a time when systems are under strain
Source: CNN Politics
Published 6:00 AM EDT, Fri April 4, 2025
CNN — The Social Security Administration plans to slash its technology team by nearly one-third at a time when the agency’s complex and fragile computer systems are crashing more often. Top executives in the agency’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, known as OCIO, have been tasked with cutting 30% of its staff as part of a large-scale reduction-in-force being implemented across the federal government, according to two former employees with direct knowledge of the plan.
The office had about 3,200 employees, though it has already lost hundreds of experienced workers due to retirement and separation incentives. (It has also gained some staffers after the agency shuttered other divisions and transferred the functions to OCIO.) The planned purge comes as the agency’s long-glitchy technology is suffering more outages than usual, multiple current and former employees, as well as advocates, told CNN.
Also adding to the stress on the systems is the increased number of concerned Americans accessing the public “my Social Security” website, calling the 800 number and visiting local offices amid the turmoil surrounding the agency’s massive restructuring. This week alone, the “my Social Security” site was down for several hours, with a message reading “Online Service Not Available.” Then, a tech update involving identity authentication resulted in a longer outage for Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries, blocking them from accessing their online accounts, according to one former employee.
Some recipients, who are low-income older Americans and people with disabilities, saw an erroneous message that they are not currently receiving payments, according to an internal memo to employees that was read to CNN. “Those are the risks,” the former employee told CNN. “You lose staff that have the institutional knowledge, and when something happens, you can’t recover, or it takes you a lot longer to recover. The implication is American people get degraded services on the tech side because people internally are understaffed.”
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/04/politics/social-security-tech-team-layoffs/index.html
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Yeah but if we give them the CR, Social Security will be safe. 
