White House installs new Social Security chief as Musk takes aim

The Trump administration has put an "anti-fraud expert" temporarily in charge at the Social Security Administration, long a politically untouchable source of government spending, the White House confirmed Tuesday after the previous chief resigned in an apparent clash with Elon Musk's cost-cutting team.

The reported departure of acting commissioner Michelle King was the latest abrupt resignation of a senior official confronted with Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as the billionaire takes a scorched earth approach to federal spending.

The details of her exit were not clear, but The Washington Post, which first reported the story on Monday, said it came after officials from DOGE tried to access sensitive data at the Social Security Administration.

US media said King had been made acting commissioner in January as President Donald Trump's nominee to head the agency, Frank Bisignano, was vetted for the post.

The Trump administration expects Bisignano "to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks," according to White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields.

"In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner," he told AFP when asked for confirmation of King's resignation.

The Post and other U.S. media named that expert as Leland Dudek, who had previously headed up Social Security's anti-fraud office.

Trump has directed Musk and DOGE to identify fraud at the agency, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has said.

"They suspect that there are tens of millions of deceased people receiving fraudulent Social Security payments," she told Fox News. Musk has also referred to potential fraud, without providing evidence.

But experts have warned that Social Security data is hugely sensitive, raising concerns about Musk taking a sledgehammer to the agency.

"SSA has comprehensive medical records of people who have applied for disability benefits. It has our bank information, our earnings records, the names and ages of our children, and much more," warned Nancy Altman, president of the left-leaning advocacy group Social Security Works.

"There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred," she said.

Musk's DOGE has come in for widespread criticism since Trump took power last month as it rampages through the federal government, slashing staff and programs that it argues are fraudulent and do not align with the president's agenda.

But the drive has run into resistance.

The top civil servant at the Treasury Department, David Lebryk, also resigned in January after refusing to give DOGE access to the government's vast payments system.

And the Washington Post reported Tuesday that a federal prosecutor stepped down after refusing to comply with a White House move to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, for climate and clean energy projects.

Republicans have long sought to privatize Social Security and other US entitlement programs such as Medicare, complaining of the massive costs and government oversight involved.

But the programs are hugely popular with voters, making any attempts to reform them potential political suicide.

© Agence France-Presse