DOGE wants to modernize Social Security’s legacy tech — what could possibly go wrong? – Computerworld

“You can’t just flip a switch one night and expect to be able to upgrade. It takes due diligence, and you have to understand the complexity of the programs,” he added.

In light of DOGE’s employee cuts at the agency, Fichtner and Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, warned in a column: “If Social Security’s computer systems experience an outage, which has happened twice in recent years, the agency may lack the expertise to resolve it.” 

Unless Congress acts soon to block DOGE’s misguided technology plans, Social Security, which has never missed a payment in its nearly 90 years, might finally not deliver American workers’ hard-earned retirement checks. Yes, legacy systems should be replaced and upgraded. No one’s arguing they shouldn’t be.