Social Security Administration swaps out one DOGE staffer at CIO for another
The Social Security Administration has tapped a DOGE associate named Scott Coulter as its new chief information officer, replacing another member of the Elon Musk-led group who spent a little more than a month in the role.
Coulter, a Harvard graduate with a background in investment management, was added to SSA’s org chart this week as CIO. Mike Russo, who started as the agency’s top IT official Feb. 3, according to an SSA spokesperson, is now listed as senior advisor to the commissioner.
The agency spokesperson told FedScoop last month that Russo would be “coordinating on technology initiatives that can improve the service we provide including on our national 800 number.” Russo was previously an executive at Shift4, a payments processing company with links to Musk’s SpaceX.
Russo’s name came up earlier this week during a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Frank Bisignano, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Social Security commissioner. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., shared a whistleblower letter claiming that Bisignano was “frequently” in contact with SSA leadership despite having not been confirmed.
According to the letter, Bisignano on Jan. 30 “personally appointed Michael Russo, who he knew from his industry.” Bisignano said during Tuesday’s hearing that he has “never talked” to acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek but has spoken with Russo.
“I know Mike Russo,” he said. “He was the CIO of Shift4, and he was the CIO at Oracle for [former CEO] Mark Hurd, and I [have known] him for 20 years. I don’t know him as a DOGE person. I know him as a CIO.”
Russo and Coulter were named in a federal court filing in Maryland earlier this month by Tiffany Flick, an SSA employee for nearly 30 years who retired last month. Flick, who had been serving as acting chief of staff to acting SSA Commissioner Michelle King, was informed by Dudek on Jan. 30 that two DOGE representatives — Russo and Coulter — would be working at the agency.
Dudek, then a mid-level staffer, was directed by Flick to refrain from contact with DOGE, and the onboarding of Russo began. In the subsequent weeks, Flick said Russo “seemed completely focused on questions from DOGE officials based on the general myth of supposed widespread Social Security fraud, rather than facts.”
“Throughout this time, Acting Commissioner King requested that Mr Russo report to her, as the CIO normally would, but he consistently gave evasive answers about his work,” Flick wrote. “It appeared to me that he was actually reporting to DOGE.”
DOGE representatives’ accessing of SSA systems has been the subject of litigation. A federal judge last week issued a temporary restraining order blocking Musk’s group from further access to any agency systems that contain personally identifiable information.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Coulter holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in applied mathematics and previously worked as a private equity analyst at The Blackstone Group. He founded the New York-based investment management firm Cowbird Capital in 2017, per his profile.
Nextgov first reported the news of Coulter’s appointment to the CIO position.
