DOGE Plans to Update Outdated SSA Coding Language

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is reportedly working on an overhaul of Social Security Administration (SSA) computer systems.

As Wired reported Friday (March 28), the plan is to migrate the SSA’s computer system off its longtime programming language.

Sources tell Wired the effort is being headed by Elon Musk lieutenant Steve Davis, with the goal of moving all SSA systems from COBOL, which is one of the first common business-oriented programming languages, and onto a more modern equivalent.

As the report noted, SSA has been facing increasing scrutiny from the White House, with DOGE head Musk claiming last month that he’d uncovered a wave of fraud with the agency. These claims, as a recent Washington Post report points out, conflict with numerous government audits.

According to Wired, DOGE’s migration plans wouldn’t be the first time the SSA has tried to wean itself off COBOL. The agency in 2017 announced it was expecting hundreds of millions in funding to overhaul its core systems, something it predicted would take five years. After the COVID pandemic in 2020, SSA decided to focus on more public-facing projects.

Meanwhile, a report last month by ZDNet argues that the “real crime” at SSA isn’t fraud, but an outdated, badly maintained software system.

“COBOL, you see, may be old, but it’s far from dead,” that report said. “According to the Government Accounting Office (GAO), numerous vital government systems still rely on legacy software and hardware. Some of these systems are more than 50 years old.”

These include systems used by the Department of Education, and for critical operations at Medicare & Medicaid Services, and for some applications at the IRS.

Meanwhile, SSA could soon have a new commission in the form of Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano, President Trump’s choice to lead the agency. Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee last week Bisignano pledged to make the agency more efficient.

“Fundamentally, Social Security is a payments-based, customer-facing program,” he said. “On the phone, I’m committed to reducing wait times and providing beneficiaries with a better experience. Waiting 20 minutes-plus to get an answer will be [a thing] of yesteryear.

“The ability to receive payments on time and accurately is job one. The ability to process any type of claim we receive is job one,” Bisignano said.