Fraud Chasing Crowds Out Modernization

ProPublica reports that DOGE, billed as tech fixers, sidelined Social Security’s long-needed IT overhaul to pursue fast, media-friendly fraud finds. Acting chief Leland Dudek says the effort created chaos, yet DOGE alumni are now embedded and the Senate-confirmed commissioner has embraced their approach. — It shows how performative anti-fraud crusades can hollow administrative capacity by substituting optics for infrastructure and then entrenching those incentives inside agencies.