By Gregory Korte | Bloomberg

Leland Dudek’s weekend started with a phone call removing him from his job at the Social Security Administration after giving information about the agency to DOGE, the government cost-cutting initiative associated with billionaire Elon Musk.

By Monday, he was named the agency’s acting commissioner.

The fall and rise of Dudek, a relatively low-level career employee, reflects just one front in a battle happening across the federal government as President Donald Trump seeks to gain control of a bureaucracy he has long derided.

It also illustrated the emphasis the new administration has put on loyalty, and the prioritization of slash-and-burn cuts to a federal bureaucracy Trump has described as bloated.

“There ARE good people in the government who want to eliminate fraud & waste. Amazingly, Leland was fired by Social Security Administration upper management for helping @DOGE find taxpayer savings. Can you believe that??” Musk posted Wednesday night on X, his social media platform. “Thanks to President Trump, Leland was brought back right away and now HE is upper management.”

Vacancies in the commissioner’s office are usually filled by deputy commissioners, then by regional commissioners. More than 150 members of the senior executive service, the upper echelon of managers in the federal government, would be next in line at the agency.

But presidents always retain discretion to bypass that order of succession, and that’s what Trump did in picking Dudek, according to four people familiar with the agency’s structure. Dudek, who served as a senior adviser in the Office of Program Integrity, was a general schedule employee serving beneath the senior executive service.

Dudek’s promotion will likely be short-lived, pending Senate confirmation of a permanent commissioner. Trump has nominated Fiserv Inc. CEO Frank Bisignano for the job.

Dudek gave his account of last weekend’s events in a post on LinkedIn, which has since been deleted. “They want to fire me for cooperating with DOGE,” he posted, saying he received a phone call from his boss placing him on administrative leave.

“I confess. I helped DOGE understand SSA,” the post continued, according to screenshots seen by Bloomberg News and confirmed by two people who read the post before it was deleted. “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.”

Neither Dudek nor a Social Security spokesperson returned messages seeking comment. White House spokesman Harrison Fields called Dudek “a career Social Security anti-fraud expert” but did not elaborate on how he was chosen to be its leader.

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Dudek now heads the 58,000-employee agency, which oversees the nation’s old-age and disability entitlement programs, after the former acting commissioner, Michelle King, clashed with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency over access to Social Security beneficiary data.

King told associates she retired. Trump said Tuesday he didn’t know if she left of her own accord or was fired, adding that people like her should be forced out of their jobs.

In an email to Social Security employees Wednesday, Dudek said DOGE would have access to Social Security beneficiary data, a highly sensitive and controlled system that includes the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates, work histories and bank account information of millions of Americans.

“DOGE personnel CANNOT make changes to agency systems, benefit payments, or other information. They only have READ access,” Dudek said. He said the DOGE team would follow the law and any breach would be referred to the Justice Department.

Unauthorized release of Social Security data is a crime punishable by up to one year in jail.

Dudek also rebutted claims — by Musk and from Trump himself in at least two public appearances this week — that millions of people were receiving Social Security benefits despite being more than 150 years old.

“The reported data are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record. These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits,” he said.

One person familiar Social Security’s record-keeping said Dudek’s statement described one of the agency’s most sensitive databases, and suggests that DOGE already has access to it.

Those Numident records form the basis of establishing a person’s identity. It includes names, aliases, social security numbers, date and place of birth, race, citizenship and parent’s names — including the mother’s maiden name that is often used as an identity challenge question.

Dudek said he’s committed to transparency and accountability. He said his first call as acting commissioner was to the agency’s inspector general, inviting her to “oversee and review any and all agency activities, including my actions past, present, and future.”

“Openness, transparency, and accountability are tenants of good government and demonstrating them begins with me,” he wrote.

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