Dudek provided the Department of Government Efficiency information without authorization and was placed under investigation for it,but President Donald Trump appointed him commissioner. Dudek reduced research funding and demoted executives opposed to him and threatened to cease the SSA's operations. He feuded with Governor of Maine Janet Mills for comments made to Trump.
In 2009,Dudek became an IT security official at the Social Security Administration (SSA). He was critical of the way the agency was managed and frequently cited James Q. Wilson's Bureaucracy,a book critical of the SSA.[2] He was working in the anti-fraud office before being elected to commissioner of the SSA.[7]
Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
Dudek referred to Governor Janet Mills as a "petulant child". He cancelled SSA contracts with Maine amidst disputes the state had with President Donald Trump.
Dudek established contact with Steve Davis in December and started discussing how Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could work with the bureaucracy of the SSA.[2] Dudek was put on leave by SSA leadership for sharing information with DOGE without authorization,but shortly thereafter President Donald Trump replaced acting commissioner Michelle King with Dudek on February 16,2025.[7][8] On Dudek's social media he praised DOGE.[8]
During Dudek's tenure as acting commissioner he reduced funding for research programs and demoted senior executives who were responsible for him being placed on paid leave. He proposed digitizing Social Security cards.[7] The Office of Transformation,which was tasked with creating an online application to replace paper-based forms,was closed at the request of DOGE official Scott Coulter.[2] On March 6,SSA employees were barred from accessing certain sites,including news sites,which hampered their ability to view obituaries,which are used to prevent fraud.[4] He threatened to cease the operations of the SSA after DOGE staffers were blocked from accessing SSA data by a court ruling,but retracted this threat.[9]
In February 2025,Maine Governor Janet Mills told President Donald Trump that she would follow the law after he demanded Maine ban transgender athletes from women's sports,resulting in Trump threatening to remove funding to Maine,while Mills threatened a lawsuit.[10] Later that month,Dudek told SSA staff to "cancel the contracts" regarding Maine,declaring:"While our improper payments will go up,and fraudsters may compromise identities,no money will go from the public trust to a petulant child",in reference to Mills.[11]
In March 2025,Maine authorities reported that the SSA cancelled Maine's contracts for the Enumeration at Birth and Electronic Death Records programs.[12] The Enumeration at Birth program,which was rolled out nationally in 1989,allowed parents to request their newborn children's Social Security numbers at hospitals,and 99% of children received their numbers this way,reported the SSA.[12][13] The contract cancellation necessitated Maine parents to travel to a Social Security office to obtain their newborn's Social Security number.[13] When the contract cancellations were made public,no reason was given for the cancellations.[12][13] Within a week,the Maine contracts were restored,with Dudek saying:"ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine,which was not the intent. For that,I apologize".[13] Later,Dudek told the media that he ordered the initial change in Maine because:"I was ticked at the governor of Maine for not being real cordial to the president …I screwed up."[14] Dudek later told ProPublica that these actions were requested by DOGE and that he purposely used inflammatory language to cause a backlash in order to revert the orders.[2]
In April 2025,The Washington Post reported that Dudek was persuaded by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to instruct the SSA to falsely list over 6,000 living immigrants in their database of dead people,despite Dudek's initial belief that this action was illegal.[15]
After Dudek's tenure as commissioner ended he criticized DOGE in an interview with ProPublica stating that they did not know what they were doing and wanted to run the government like a McDonald's. He stated that he was critical of a table created by DOGE claiming that 12 million people over the age of 120 were collecting benefits and tried to advise Elon Musk that these people were not collecting benefits. He was an anonymous source for The Washington Post and The New York Times while serving as commissioner.[2]
Personal life
Dudek is married. He is registered as a member of the Democratic Party[16] and voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Dudek stated that he has had difficulty finding a job after his tenure as commissioner as "My name is mud".[2]
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