Frank Bisignano, the newly confirmed commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), told lawmakers on Wednesday afternoon that his agency is keeping Americans’ sensitive data safe, and he laid out the agency’s technology agenda to improve customer service.
During a joint hearing held by the House Ways and Means Committee’s Social Security Subcommittee and Work and Welfare Subcommittee, several lawmakers raised concerns over the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) having access to Americans’ personal data at SSA.
The issue made its way to the Supreme Court, which issued a ruling earlier this month that granted DOGE unfettered access to sensitive data held by the SSA.
Bisignano, however, assured lawmakers that Americans’ personally identifiable information (PII) “is safe.”
“Social Security has always had a high level of security over PII, and I’ve overviewed it,” Bisignano said. “I’d like to say I spent my career protecting PII in the largest financial institutions, and so we have very strong protocols on access to it and very tight security around it. I feel very, very comfortable that our PII is protected well.”
When asked by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., if DOGE employees have access to any sensitive information, Bisignano replied: “No, sir.”
Technology Agenda
Aside from protecting Americans’ personal data, Bisignano said he is committed to “significantly improving service quality” at the agency through the use of technology.
“My vision for Social Security is clear: putting the customer first. This will be driven by a technology agenda, while continuing to meet our customers where they want to be met, whether online, on the phone, or in field offices,” he said.
“Our fiscal 2026 funding request allows us to invest in our technology strategy to provide customers with digital and automated options as they experience regularly in their daily lives,” Bisignano added.
One technology effort that Bisignano shared relates to scheduled downtime on the SSA website, which he said amounts to 18 percent of the total hours in a week.
“That’s totally unacceptable for serving the public. That will change in the next two months through technology enhancements,” he said. “I think that’s a lot of opportunity lost to serve the public the way they want to be served. I don’t know many websites that schedule 29 hours of downtime.”
Another tech initiative is leveraging AI to support employees at SSA’s field offices. The goal is to streamline internal operations while enhancing the in-person experience for the millions of Americans who rely on those offices for critical services.
“Even the people in the field office can have a much better experience by us bringing better technology to our field office reps to help them to be able to accumulate data, bring it together, and use a little intelligence behind it to make it easier for our people. Our people have to go to multiple systems,” he said. “I think our wait times on average are good in the field offices. I think we could even be better.”
“[We] take phone calls in the field offices, and we brought a technology system in there for the phones – that will get finished in August,” Bisignano said.
Finally, the commissioner assured lawmakers that when determining an individual’s eligibility for disability benefits, “every one of the decisions will be made by a human assisted by AI.”