Mike Russo
Tech Industry Links: SpaceX
Reportedly a favorite of incoming SSA commissioner Frank Bisignano, Mike Russo was named the CIO of Social Security in early February and immediately advocated for the expedited onboarding of Akash Bobba. The DOGE contingent eventually swelled to 11 engineers under his watch. In late March, he was removed from the CIO position and demoted to a Senior Advisor, reportedly because the Trump administration was displeased that he cooperated with a judge’s order to revoke DOGE access to SSA systems. However, recent reports by the New York Times claim that he is effectively acting as a co-CIO with Aram Moghaddassi under Frank Bisignano’s leadership, so perhaps he has returned to good graces. Prior to government service, he was a senior executive at Shift4 Payments, which is an investor in SpaceX and a payment processor for Starlink.
Positions
| Position | Notes |
|---|---|
| SSA |
Sources
SSA
3/25/25-9/03/25
demoted to
Senior Advisor
($195,200)
«Demoted and replaced by Scott Coulter in CIO role, he seems to be acting in a quasi co-CIO role since June»
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Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
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1/30/25
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Source
Interagency
Leland Dudek reaches out to Tiffany Flick, the Associate Director of Budget, Facilities and Security to inform her that Mike Russo and Scott Coulter would be onboarding for DOGE. He was a mid-level employee at the time who would not normally be coordinating inter-agency details like this.
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2/03/25
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Source
Onboard
Mike Russo officially joins the agency as its new CIO. He then immediately requests that Akash Bobba should be rapidly onboarded into the agency (but there are issues with Bobba’s background check)
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2/10/25
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Source
Report
Mike Russo summons his new ally Leland Dudek to his office and asks him to explain data discrepancies identified by Elon Musk. Leland convenes a team of dozens of SSA engineers who review the data from the Treasury department and document fallacies of DOGE’s reasoning in a memo. Mike Russo rejects the memo’s conclusions by declaring that DOGE would not trust career civil servants and demanding that Akash Bobba must do his own analysis.
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2/10/25
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Source
Disruption
Mike Russo and the DOGE chief of staff Steve Davis both demand that Akash Bobba be onboarded at Social Security Administration before midnight, bypassing the usual background security checks.
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2/10/25
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Source
Sighting
CIO Mike Russo convenes his own internal informational group in SSA where he has conversations with DOGE staff at other agencies about novel ideas for sharing sensitive SSA data. He does not inform Acting SSA Director, Michelle King.
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2/15/25
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Source
Disruption
Frustrated with the questions and concerns raised by Akash Bobba about technical issues with the sandbox NUMIDENT data, Mike Russo complains directly to the Chief CIO in the office of the OMB.
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2/19/25
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Source
Official
SSA CIO Mike Russo emails Leland Dudek request access to SSA’s Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) for several “members of [his] team.” This includes access to the NUMIDENT list of all social security records, Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) and Supplemental Security Record (SSR) master records, as well as copies of SSA payment files which SSA transmits to the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) for payment.
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3/24/25
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Source
Disruption
Mike Russo is abruptly removed from his CIO position by the Trump administration. This is rumored to be retribution for complying quickly with the judicial ruling to remove DOGE access.
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3/26/25
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Source
Disruption
During his confirmation hearing, Frank Bisignano, the nominee to run the agency, confirms that he had coordinated with Michael Russo but denied a whistleblower report that he had ordered the appointment of other DOGE staff there.
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6/06/25
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Source
Sighting
A report in the New York Times suggests that Mike Russo and Aram Moghaddassi have essentially been acting as joint CIOs at the agency.
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6/25/25
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Access
Reportedly acting as a joint CIO at Social Security, Mike Russo overrides the concerns of junior staff in the Office of the CIO at the Social Security Administration and approves a request by John Solly to transfer NUMIDENT data into the new DOGE-controlled cloud environment.
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6/28/25
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Source
Disruption
According to a page update on the Federal CIO site, Aram Moghaddassi is named the new CIO of the Social Security Administration, making him the third DOGE-affiliated CIO in a row at the agency. This follows on reports that he had been acting in a co-CIO role with former CIO Mike Russo. He replaces Scott Coulter who was the CIO as recently as late May.
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9/03/25
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Source
Official
Commissioner Frank Bisignano issues a press release announcing the new leadership structure for the Social Security Administration. This officially confirms the reports that DOGE members Aram Moghaddassi and Mike Russo had effectively been acting as co-CIOs, with Mr. Moghaddassi named to the title of Chief Information Officer (Technology and Customer Products) and Mr. Russo to Chief Information Officer (Core Business Functions)
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