- Social Security Administration has told workers that they are prohibited from accessing news and online purchasing websites.
- SSA said this decision will help better protect sensitive information within the agency.
- An employee who received the email told Bi that he could hinder the work of the agency.
While the Trump administration continues to restructure the social security administration, agency employees learned Thursday that they are now prohibited from reading the news on their work computers.
On Thursday morning, SSA sent an email to the agency level informing employees of new restrictions on Internet browsing. The email, examined by Business Insider, said that from March 6, employees are no longer allowed to access three categories of websites on “the equipment filled with the government”: online purchases, new generals and sports.
“Employees with a legitimate company should submit an exception” to their supervisor, said the email. “These additional restrictions will help reduce risks and better protect the sensitive information entrusted to us in our many systems.”
An SSA employee who obtained anonymity to speak freely about his job told BI that there had been a staff meeting Thursday of the last advice. During the meeting, employees expressed their concerns that the Microsoft web browser they use automatically reduce certain home pages to news and sports links.
The employee said that a representative of the SSA headquarters said that there should be no problem as long as workers “navigate” to a prohibited site.
“Not a comforting thing in this Bolshevik environment,” said the employee.
The employee also said that SSA workers sometimes sought online necrologies to “move things faster” to help check information about beneficiaries. “In some cases, the surviving family is eligible for services, but we never receive an official death notice,” they said.
The latter guidelines “could mean that assertions are blocked in limbo,” said the employee.
Thursday’s email is following an opinion sent to employees last week offering them a voluntary anticipated retirement as part of a “restructuring which will include significant reductions in the workforce”. Five SSA workers have told BI that discounts could increase customer service waiting time and lead to delays for older Americans and those who have a disability that rely on social security benefits.
“The service to the public will undoubtedly suffer. We are barely enough staff to meet the public needs,” said an employee.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has dismissed thousands of federal workers and described the plans to restructure federal agencies as part of the Doge Office objective, led by Elon Musk, to reduce government waste. The staff management office published a memo at the end of February asking all federal agencies to submit reorganization plans before March 13.
The SSA did not immediately respond to a request for BI comments.
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