WHO IN THE WORLD IS LELAND DUDEK?
Leland Dudek, acting Commissioner of SSA since February 19, 2025, stated that he accepted the position because he firmly believed in the Agency’s mission and the hardworking and dedicated employees who serve America. Dudek said that openness, transparency, and accountability are tenets of good government and that demonstrating them began with him.
In his statement, Dudek was very complimentary of DOGE and their commitment to identifying fraud, waste, and abuse. The acting Commissioner of SSA stated that DOGE personnel must follow the law. If they violate the law, they will be referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution. He also stated that his first call was to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to allow them to review his past, present, and future actions. Dudek’s statement did not communicate that the SSA OIG’s work promotes economy, efficiency, and effectiveness and detects waste, fraud, and abuse in SSA programs and operations.
Dudek’s statement also failed to mention that he was under investigation for working with DOGE and bullying and harassing co-workers. In a now-deleted LinkedIn post, Dudek stated, “I confess. I helped DOGE understand SSA. I mailed myself publically accessible documents and explained them to DOGE. I confess. I moved contractor money around to add data science resources to my anti-fraud team to examine Direct Deposit Fraud. I confess. I bullied Agency executives, shared executive contact information, and circumvented the chain of command to connect DOGE with the people who get stuff done.” The post also stated that Dudek believed he could have been fired.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who serves on the Senate’s Finance Committee, wrote a letter demanding answers on reports of Dudek providing DOGE unauthorized access to Social Security systems. According to the Wall Street Journal, SSA’s leadership team was concerned about how he was helping DOGE personnel. Dudek began sharing information with non-SSA personnel in December 2024 and pressured other SSA staff to assist DOGE.
In the letter, Ms. Warren declared her concern with reports that Dudek was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Aside from questions about Dudek’s ethics, workplace behavior, and potential illegal activities, there are also questions about his qualifications. According to the Wall Street Journal, Dudek spent more than a decade at SSA but was largely unknown to senior executives at the Agency. Dudek was a General Schedule employee, a status below Senior Executive Service. He succeeded Michelle King, who served over three decades in government service and previously served as Commissioner of SSA. King’s resignation process began after she refused to provide DOGE staffers access to sensitive information.
Even though Dudek’s initial statement to the public described SSA employees as “dedicated” and “hardworking” individuals who serve the United States of America, it is a contradictory belief, and the Agency must question Dudek’s intent. Acting Commissioner Dudek celebrated the termination of 14 SSA employees as one of his weekly accomplishments in his five-bullet email that he submitted to the President. In a press release on workforce and organization plans, SSA stated that it planned to reduce the size of its “bloated workforce.” Five days after becoming Commissioner and complimenting SSA employees, Dudek’s Agency terminated the Office of Transformation. The following day, SSA closed its Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. Some of the office’s responsibilities included resolving complaints of discrimination, managing SSA’s reasonable accommodations program for disabled employees, and ensuring equal employment opportunities for all employees. Due to the closings, nearly 200 employees were terminated or placed on leave.
Nine days after Dudek became Commissioner, the Agency issued a press release stating it would reduce its workforce by 7,000. This move is particularly concerning because former Commissioner Martin O’Malley reported that SSA had a 50-year staffing low last fall. Former Commissioner O’Malley also reported that in 2023, an average of 1.6 million Americans were waiting for disability determinations. During that year, 30,000 Americans died while waiting for their disability decision to be finalized. As of April 2024, there was an 8-month wait time for initial disability determination decisions, and the Agency had a backlog of 1.1 million cases. O’Malley reported that the root cause of the Agency’s top issues was a reduction in staffing paired with an increase in the number of people the Agency served.
Leland Dudek’s actions, statements, and plans for SSA are gravely concerning. As of March 3, 2025, he has been Commissioner for 13 days.
