How the Social Security Administration and DOGE are gaslighting Americans
The Social Security Administration (SSA) sent an email on March 27 to beneficiaries saying that reports that field offices were closing was an invention of fake news media. "Recent reports in the media that the [SSA] is permanently closing local field offices are false," the message said.
A press release, "Correcting the Record about Social Security Office Closings," on the SSA website has a similar message with additional details. The press release says that the SSA is committed to maintaining its field offices and suggests it has only targeted "small hearing rooms with no assigned employees" for closure.
On X, the official DOGE account echoed this message. In response to a post by Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), DOGE said that "Social Security has no plans to close any public-facing sites nationwide."
Here are the facts: DOGE and the SSA moved forward with plans to close multiple field offices. Then, without public notice or explanation, they reversed their plans. Now they are trying to pretend like they were never planning to close field offices, and people are confused due to misinformation from the media or Democratic politicians.
In Campbellsville, Kentucky, for example, the owner of a 12,750-square-foot office building leased to the SSA for a field office was informed by the General Services Administration (GSA) that the entire lease was being terminated. The SSA lease was also listed as terminated on the DOGE website. "DOGE has come in, and quickly, with little information, tried to take the services away from senior citizens in Kentucky and other parts of the country," Bill Broydrick, who represents the owner of the building, told WAVE news.
News of the closure generated protests from residents and local politicians. A couple of weeks later, the owner of the building in Campbellsville received another letter from the GSA saying it was reversing its decision to terminate the lease for the entire building:
“Upon further review, the GSA hereby rescinds the termination letter issued on February 21, 2025, to Mr. Richard Tanenbaum,” the letter said. “After careful consideration and discussion, the SSA has instead agreed to a partial termination of the SSA Office of Hearing Operation (OHO).”
The letter says instead of a full closure of the office (11,674 square feet and 65 parking spaces), the SSA will instead “partially” close the location, resulting in a closure of 1,436 square feet and 15 parking spaces. It says the “remaining” portion of the lease will remain active.
The letter ends with an apology to the owner over any “inconvenience or confusion this may have caused.”
Now, all mention of the termination of the Campbellsville SSA office lease has been removed from the DOGE website.
Similar incidents played out across the country. DOGE reported on its website that it had terminated the lease of a 9298-square-foot SSA field office in Lawton, Oklahoma. The move again prompted local opposition. “I think it’s horrible that people in Lawton have a great population turning 62 or the years after, some of them don’t have transportation, and have no other way to get to the Social Security office,” Retired Sgt. Maj. Robert Dell McClain told ABC7 News. "[T]here are a lot of people in our population that do not use the internet or have no other source to contact social security."
About a week later, Congressman Tom Cole (R-OK) announced that he had intervened to save the Lawton SSA office. "After working closely with DOGE and the Administration, I am thrilled to announce that common sense has prevailed, as… the Social Security Administration Office in Lawton… will remain operational," Cole said. "I will always fight for Oklahomans and my constituents!"
DOGE reported that it was also terminating the lease of a 7361-square-foot field office in Cullman, Alabama. The DOGE website said this was a "true termination," and the SSA had already closed the office.
Asked by a local television station, Fox45, if the field office in Cullman was being closed, the SSA provided a statement that did not address the question. Instead, the SSA told Fox45 that the agency some public-facing offices were "being consolidated into nearby locations" and referred the station to the GSA for further questions.
Later, Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) told the media that he "remains in close contact with the Social Security Administration to ensure that essential services remain accessible to the people of Alabama." He said that, based on his conversations with the SSA, the Cullman office "will remain open and continue serving the public." The entry for the Cullman office has now been removed from the DOGE website.
In all, the DOGE website initially listed 47 lease terminations for buildings used by the SSA, according to archived data from the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker. In the most recent update, 25 of those entries, including more than a dozen field offices, have been removed from the DOGE website. The remaining sites mostly appear to be small hearing offices. (An exception is a field office in Logan, West Virigina, that has been permanently closed because of structural damage to the building. The agency is reportedly looking for a new location.)
People do not believe that SSA field offices are closing because of false news reports or confusion. They believe that SSA field offices are closing because DOGE publicly reported that it was closing field offices, and the SSA terminated leases for field offices. Then, after public protests, they reversed course without acknowledging their mistake.
SSA implementing policies to overwhelm capacity of field offices
It appears that, for now, the SSA is largely maintaining its network of field offices. But it is also slashing 12% of its staff — more than 7,000 people. It is also implementing two major changes that could flood its offices with millions of additional people annually. Even before these new policies, it could take a month or longer to schedule an appointment at a field office.
On March 17, Popular Information broke the news that the SSA would begin requiring people making new benefit claims to verify their ID through the internet or at a field office. Since many elderly and disabled people are unable to access or use the internet, the new policy would result in an additional 75,000 to 85,000 in-person visitors per week. An internal memo obtained by Popular Information revealed that the SSA predicted "service disruption," "operational strain," and "budget shortfalls" once the policy went into effect.
The policy was slated to go into effect today, but the SSA issued a statement on March 26 stating that it had "listened to our customers, Congress, advocates, and others" and had made some alterations to the policy and delayed its implementation until April 15. By that time, a new SSA Commissioner will be in place.
On March 20, Popular Information scooped that the SSA would immediately stop issuing Social Security numbers and cards to noncitizens who receive work authorization. Instead, everyone who receives a work authorization, more than 3 million people annually, will have to make an appointment at an SSA field office to receive a Social Security number and card.
Combined, these new policies could send up to 160,000 additional people to SSA field offices weekly. That would represent more than a 25% increase in the number of people who need appointments. An SSA source told Popular Information that the new policies are causing "havoc and confusion" and will "break the agency and hurt the public."
So, the cowardly and craven Trump administration saw and heard immediate angry backlash from all who will fight any cutting of their ability to get SSA retirement income that they have paid for--we've all bought and paid for SSA payments through our work.
Thank you, Judd, for your painstaking investigation. Whoever is engineering this action is going into all field offices designed to serve all of us who have worked and deserve to be paid as promised. SSA payments are the opposite of a Ponzi scheme--this would be DOGE recklessly cheating people wherever they close anything down.
Liars gonna lie. These DOGE guys are getting tangled up in all of their lies, tripping over their lies and will be scarred by their lies when the reckoning comes.