The Social Security Administration is facing a potential overhaul of its computer systems, one that could disrupt the benefits of millions of Americans who rely on these payments. The Department of Government Efficiency aims to migrate the SSA’s infrastructure away from its decades-old COBOL programming language in just a few months. Experts warn that such an aggressive timeline could jeopardize the very system that supports the financial well-being of millions of people.
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DOGE has outlined a proposal to replace the core programming of the SSA, which has been running on COBOL—a language created in the late 1950s. According to WIRED, DOGE’s team is pushing to complete this transition in just a matter of months. This proposal is raising red flags across the tech community. Modernizing such a massive system is already a monumental task, but attempting to do so in such a compressed timeframe could lead to costly errors.
Many critics of the SSA’s infrastructure point to its reliance on COBOL, which, despite its age, remains a workhorse for many financial systems. According to Reuters, COBOL is still widely used to process 95% of ATM transactions worldwide. The programming language’s longevity is a testament to its stability and efficiency, particularly when handling large datasets, such as those needed to calculate and distribute Social Security benefits.
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The SSA has relied on COBOL since its creation. In 2023, the SSA distributed over $1.3 trillion in benefits to 70 million beneficiaries, showing the system’s continued ability to process payments on a large scale. Critics are concerned that replacing COBOL with a new programming language, such as Java, could pose significant risks with changes that may go unnoticed in the rush to complete the migration.
One of the most pressing concerns is the possibility of payment errors or system outages. The SSA handles an enormous volume of financial transactions each year—840 million to be exact. Small discrepancies in calculations could result in catastrophic errors. A former SSA technologist told WIRED that COBOL processes decimal values differently than newer languages like Java, meaning that even a minor error could lead to incorrect payments for recipients, further straining an already complicated system.
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