The decision removes the agency’s Office of Transformation.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that it is eliminating its Office of Transformation, which it described in a news release Monday as a “wasteful department.”
President Donald Trump previously “mandated the federal government eliminate wasteful and inefficient offices and the Office of Transformation was a prime example,” said acting Social Security Commissioner Lee Dudek in a statement. “This redundant office was created under the previous administration and we are righting that wrong.”
Other details about the decision to remove the office were not provided by the SSA.
A webpage-based manual said the Office of Transformation was responsible for providing “strategic guidance and oversight of enterprise-wide initiatives, addressing policies, business processes, and systems.”
Last week, the agency announced it would cut Retirement and Disability Research Consortium cooperative agreements that Dudek described as wasteful and said his office “will continue to root out waste and abuse to earn back America’s trust and confidence in our agency.”
Social Security had entered into the cooperative agreements with research centers that focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in Social Security retirement and disability policies. The termination of those agreements would save approximately $15 million, according to the agency.
That same day, the administration moved its Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight into other existing parts of the agency. Dudek also said the move was done as part of the Trump administration’s plans to root out fraud, abuse, and waste.
“Realigning functions previously under the Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight, is an important, common-sense step in the right direction to further strengthen the integrity of the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs millions of people depend on,” Dudek said in a statement.
Since taking office, Trump has moved to reduce spending by cutting out programs and reducing the size of the federal workforce. He also created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is being led by White House adviser and tech billionaire Elon Musk, to find ways to save money and boost efficiency.