Leland Dudek (Credit: public domain)
Leland Dudek was an obscure bureaucrat at the Social Security Administration who dedicated his career to stopping fraud. But when he worked with the Department of Government Efficiency to do just that, he came close to being fired.
“At 4:30pm EST, my boss called me to tell me I had been placed on administrative leave pending an Investigation,” Dudek wrote on LinkedIn. “They want to fire me for cooperating with DOGE,” he wrote in a now-deleted post obtained by The Daily Wire.
Michelle King (Credit: public domain)
Then, a stunning reversal occurred. It was Acting Social Security Commissioner Michelle King who was out of a job. And Dudek was reinstated with a big promotion — taking her job leading the massive agency on an interim basis.
The Washington Post reported that King exited the agency after refusing to let DOGE access agency data and was replaced by Dudek. But it has not been reported that managers at the agency had moved to punish Dudek as he cooperated with the efficiency czars.
The LinkedIn post said “I confess. I helped DOGE understand SSA. I mailed myself publicly accessible documents and explained them to DOGE. I confess. I moved contractor money around to add data science resources to my anti-fraud team. I confess. I asked where the fat was and is in our contracts so we can make the right tough choices.”
Gina Clemons (Credit: public domain)
“I confess. I bullied agency executives, shared executive contact information, and circumvented the chain of command to connect DOGE with the people who get stuff done,” it continued. “Everything I have ever done is in service to our country, our beneficiaries, and our agency.”
The Social Security Administration and the White House did not return requests for comment. A SSA employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Wire that the person who put Dudek on leave was Gina Clemons, Deputy Commissioner for Analytics, Review, and Oversight, and that she is still on the job.
Dudek, a career civil servant, is an example of how there are a few fiscally conscious longtime government employees, and how the Trump administration and DOGE can maximize their impact by joining forces with people who know where the bodies are buried. (Read more: The Daily Wire, 2/20/2025) (Archive)