Leland Dudek

Rule Changes

No longer at SSA

For decades, roughly 1,250 Social Security field offices operated as independent mini-agencies, each staffed with employees who knew their local communities and state-specific rules. On March 7, 2026, the Social Security Administration replaced that model with two centralized systems that route beneficiaries to any available representative anywhere in the country. When a retiree in Maine calls about a claim, they may now speak with an employee in Arizona who has never handled that state's rules.

Updated May 30

Rule Changes

No longer in position; publicly critical of DOGE

The Privacy Act of 1974 was written to prevent exactly this: government employees using federal databases containing Social Security numbers, health records, and bank account information for unauthorized purposes. Department of Government Efficiency staffers did it for nearly a year. They copied records of 300 million Americans to unsecured servers, shared files with outside political groups, and coordinated with election-denial activists to match voter rolls against Social Security data.

Updated May 22