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 acting Social Security Commissioner released a statement that the agency will uphold SSA's history of protecting benefits and data amid concerns about DOGE access.

When people think of Social Security, they typically think of monthly benefits — for the roughly 69 million retirees, disabled workers, dependents and survivors who receive them today.

KEY TAKEAWAYS The previous acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration left after Elon Musk's DOGE attempt to access sensitive government records.Lee Dudek has been appointed the administration’s acting commissioner pending the Senate Confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominee.

The Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner has stepped down from her role at the agency over Department of Government Efficiency requests to access Social Security recipient information.

Michelle King, a career federal worker who had been with SSA since 1994, quit over the DOGE disagreement Saturday and was replaced by Leland Dudek.

The staffer with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency who resigned after a report that linked him to racism and eugenics has been reinstated at the Social Security Administration,

WASHINGTON—Leland Dudek had spent more than a decade at the Social Security Administration, including time overseeing a fraud investigation office, but was largely unknown to senior executives at the agency.