#Musk’s deputies became so intent on their work at #SocialSecurity that they pushed employees to continue giving them access to sensitive agency data even after a federal judge demanded that DOGE’s access be cut off, acc/to 2 people…. #SCOTUS ruled this month that #DOGE’s access can resume.

#DOGE leaders pressured agency executives to hire a 21-year-old former INTERN at #Palantir, a #data analysis & #technology firm, & grant him #access to the #PersonalData of EVERY #SocialSecurity cardholder despite the executives’ concerns that he lacked sufficient training to handle such sensitive #information.

In response, #Musk’s team mobilized dozens of #SocialSecurity employees to *affirm* their views about fraud & began a project to ensure dead people were properly classified so they weren’t mistakenly paid — even though #DOGE officials acknowledged in an internal memo that payments were not being made in those cases.

The Times’s investigation found that #Musk became fixated on #SocialSecurity in early February after members of his team misread government spending data — a pivotal & previously unreported moment that #DOGE believed had exposed massive fraud inside the agency.

#Musk has left Washington amid a blowup with #Trump, & some of his top aides at #DOGE have also departed, leaving federal workers & the public to assess what Musk’s tornadolike path through Washington yielded. At #SocialSecurity, Musk’s efforts amount to a case study in what happened when his team of government novices ran a critical government agency through #misinformation & #socialmedia blasts.

Their work has led to the departures of thousands of employees, thinning an already overstretched work force & setting off a wave of public anxiety over the state of an agency administering politically sacrosanct #retirement #benefits that #Trump vowed to protect.

Throughout the early months of this #Trump presidency, #Musk & his allies systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at the #SocialSecurity Admin based on misinterpreted data, using their claims to justify an aggressive effort to gain access to #PersonalInformation on millions of Americans, a NYT investigation has found.

@paulk
In case you're as dubious to random memes as I am, #factcheck confirms

snopes.com/fact-check/ice-t-tw…