Contrary to Trump’s assurances that he would not alter Social Security, Elon Musk’s DOGE has proposed significant reductions to the agency. Critics argue that Musk and his team are attempting to dismantle the US retirement system. A recent report reveals that, in accordance with DOGE’s directives, the Social Security Administration intends to lay off “potentially thousands” of employees as early as next week, aiming to further downsize the agency and align it with Trump’s “efficiency” agenda.

The Washington Post reports that Musk’s “government efficiency” team has demanded substantial workforce reductions across the agency. The newspaper describes the effort as follows:

According to four agency officials familiar with the conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the cuts were ordered by leaders of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team, the U.S. DOGE Service, which reviewed the agency’s plans to shrink its workforce last week. The officials stated that the 7,000 jobs eliminated since February under acting commissioner Leland Dudek through early retirements, buyouts, resignations, and firings were not sufficient. The DOGE team, which has amassed unprecedented power throughout the federal government, has demanded significantly deeper cuts to ensure that Social Security meets President Donald Trump’s goal to shrink federal agencies.

According to the newspaper, the cuts being demanded by DOGE are comprehensive, affecting various areas of operation. It writes:

Although the DOGE team did not provide a specific number of jobs to be eliminated, officials said they requested staff reductions in broad areas, including communications, personnel, legislative and congressional affairs, retirement and disability policy, and other “support components.”

Among other things, DOGE has requested severe cuts to the administration’s IT team, the report states. This team is presumably already under strain due to the agency’s recent decision to downsize its phone operations, a highly controversial move that has driven an influx of traffic to the SSA website, causing it to crash multiple times. A senior department official told the Post that up to 800 people could be laid off from the IT team, which currently has about 4,000 members.

DOGE has already announced lease terminations for dozens of SSA field offices nationwide, threatening retirees’ ability to access in-person assistance when signing up for retirement benefits. Under DOGE, the SSA has also cut phone operations and will apparently cut web operations. Meanwhile, DOGE has claimed it will re-write the SSA’s “entire codebase” within a few months, a move that critics fear could lead to significant digital dysfunction. Social Security activists argue that it’s clear that DOGE’s ultimate goal is to hinder the agency’s operations and destroy its ability to function.

When contacted by Gizmodo for comment, a White House spokesperson stated, “With a resounding mandate from the American people, President Trump is moving swiftly to fulfill his promise of making the federal government more efficient. He has promised to protect Social Security, and every recipient will continue to receive their benefits.” While failing to dispute any specific aspects of the Post report, the government further stated that there are currently no finalized RIF (reduction in workforce) plans and that the SSA is merely evaluating the next steps.

If the Trump administration succeeds in crippling America’s Social Security system while also withdrawing trillions of dollars from Americans’ 401ks via an ill-advised, stock-market-killing trade war, it will have effectively nullified the concept of “retirement” for the foreseeable future.