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By Aliss Higham
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Thousands of living Americans have been mistakenly declared dead at the Social Security Administration (SSA) under the leadership of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to a federal worker.
Rennie Glasgow, a claims technical analyst at the SSA's Schenectady office in New York state, told The Daily Beast that DOGE staffers have mistakenly moved the records of living people to the SSA's Death Master File, which holds information about individuals who had Social Security numbers and whose deaths have been reported to the federal agency.
"We have people who did not receive benefits come in every day with their ID and say, 'I'm not dead, I'm alive!" Rennie Glasgow, a claims technical analyst with 15 years of experience at the SSA's Schenectady office in New York.
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Newsweek has contacted both the SSA and DOGE for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Glasgow's comments come at a time when DOGE has been working on "a major cleanup" of Social Security records.
The work began after Musk, who is spearheading President Donald Trump's vast federal spending cuts, claimed in February that millions of people — many who would be long dead — over the age of 100 could be collecting Social Security benefits.
The SSA clarified that the figures had been misinterpreted and the millions of records Musk referenced include individuals who, while not receiving benefits, have records lacking a recorded date of death.
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What To Know
"[DOGE staffers] went into the system and they killed off people," Glasgow told The Daily Beast.
He said that DOGE had marked approximately 4 million people as deceased, but the non-official federal agency said it is unclear whether that was done correctly.
"But they're [DOGE] not sure if those people were supposed to be marked as dead, so they're sending us an email saying, 'If these people come into the office with their identification, you can reinstate them.'"
"We have to go through this long process to resurrect them, to get them back as alive, which can take about three to four days," Glasgow said, who said such incidents can have severe repercussions on benefit recipients, tens of millions of which are elderly and/or disabled.
"It stops their car payments, it stops their credit, it stops their ability to do anything," he said. "Their identification gets flagged. And most times those things have to go to the payment center."
The mistakes are having a knock-on effect. "What used to take 15 days to get done when we send something to a payment center is now taking about 30 to 45," Glasgow said.
SSA Death Records And Musk
Musk first brought attention to the SSA's records on deceased Social Security number holders in February. On X, formerly Twitter, he posted a spreadsheet of data showing "the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE!"
"Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security," Musk wrote. He later reiterated his claim in an appearance at the White House alongside President Donald Trump.
Musk did not say where the information had come from, aside from that it was a "Social Security database". However, it appears to originate from the SSA's Numident system, which has maintained records of all Social Security numbers since they were first used in 1936.
According to a report by nonpartisan think-tank Brookings, the absence of a death date "doesn't necessarily mean the person is still alive; it may simply mean the death was never reported," saying that the system was introduced as a time when "when record-keeping was paper-based and less reliable."
"Computerized death records were not introduced until 1962, meaning information on deaths prior to that year is often incomplete or inaccurate," the report reads.
The SSA has previously conceded it has not kept its filings up to speed, saying in a March 2015 review that death records had not been updated for 6.5 million individuals over the age of 112 who were presumed deceased. However, the SSA clarified that these Social Security numbers are not receiving benefits, noting that the agency automatically suspends payments to anyone listed as 115 years old or older.
"The data referenced in the media pertain to individuals whose records lack a recorded date of death," the SSA said on March 5, referring to Musk's claim that dead people are collecting federal benefits. "While these individuals may not be receiving benefits, it is crucial for the agency to uphold accurate and complete records."
What Happens Next
DOGE confirmed on April 24 that it continues to update the records, writing on X: "For the past 7 weeks, @SocialSecurity has been executing a major cleanup of their records. Approximately 11 million numberholders, all listed age 120+, have now been marked deceased."Another ~2 million to go."
Have you been declared dead by the SSA? Or do you work in an SSA office and have experience this elsewhere in the country? Get in touch with a.higham@newsweek.com.
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