Scott Coulter

Executive, age 40

Scott Coulter started his work for DOGE as a wrecker based in Social Security and detailed to NASA, but when Mike Russo was abruptly demoted as the CIO for Social Security, Scott stepped up into the role. Recently, however, the New York Times reported that Aram Mohgaddassi and Mike Russo were acting informally as co-CIOs within Social Security, leading to questions if Scott Coulter is still there or if he’s just occupying a figurehead role.

Likely aliases: SSA-02

Positions

Position Notes
NASA
NASA 2/XX/25 ($120,579) «Missing details»
SSA
NASA SSA 2/18/25-3/23/25 [as SSA-02] detailed (NTE 2/18/26, reimbursed hourly, maximum of $120,579)
SSA 3/24/25-c.6/05/25 [as SSA-02] Chief Information Officer «Was listed as CIO on May 30, but Aram took over in June. WSJ reports on removal of SSA employee back to NASA in June. Aram/Russo listed as co-CIOs on 6/6»

Events

Date Event
1/30/25
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.
2/XX/25
A whistleblower reports attending a meeting with USDS Administrator Amy Gleason, the SSA CIO Scott Coulter and several other DOGE staffers at the agency. The whistleblower reports that Gleason did not contribute to the meeting and was clearly not directing DOGE activities at the agency. (fuzz: time is just given as February)
2/17/25
Joshua Fox emails a few NASA administrators to introduce himself as “one of the attorneys at DOGE” and to also inform them “I just spoke to Scott Coulter about this, but I wanted to let you know that he is planning to go over to SSA tomorrow.” He includes several other DOGE leadership personnel in the email chain. It’s unclear from the message who actually made the decision that Scott Coulter would be detailed to the Social Security Administration.
2/18/25
Multiple unidentified DOGE staffers start working at SSA on the same day. SSA-02 (Scott Coulter) is detailed from NASA. SSA-07 (Marko Elez) is detailed from the DOL. SSA-10 (Ethan Shaotran) arrives from the GSA, and SSA-05 (Cole Killian) is detailed from DOGE itself.
2/24/25
The Social Security Administration eliminates an internal team of technologists called the Office of Transformation that was working to modernize SSA processes. Although officially made by Leland Dudek, this direction was given by Scott Coulter.
2/28/25
Via email, SSA-05 (Cole Killian) at the DOGE team at SSA requests and receives approval from Leland Dudek to run a program to identify unrealistically old people in the SSA database. Scott Coulter is cc’ed on the approval.
3/12/25
In a sworn declaration, Florence Felix-Lawson notes “the SSA DOGE Team currently consists of ten SSA employees: four SSA special government employees (Employees 1, 4, 6, and 9) and six detailees to SSA from other government agencies and offices (Employees 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10)”
3/13/25
Wired reports that 10 DOGE staffers are currently visible in the Microsoft Teams directory of all employees at SSA
3/14/25
A Business Insider article reports that Alexander Simonpour has shown up at NASA and also has a GSA address (meaning he was likely detailed from the GSA). Riley Sennott and Scott Coulter also are listed in the NASA online directory.
3/14/25
ProPublica reports that a DOGE detailee at NASA Scott Coulter has “wide access to internal databases at NASA.”
4/08/25
A letter from Democrats on the House Committee of Science, Space, and Technology expresses specific concern about the lack of qualifications of DOGE staff at the agency. It explicitly names Scott Coulter, Riley Sennott and Alexander Simonpour as the DOGE team at the agency.
4/08/25
Aram Moghaddassi adds 6300 names of suspected immigrants to the “death master file” as a way of forcing them to “self-deport” by making it impossible to use financial products. This list included the names of 7 minors.
4/10/25
102 more names of living people are added to the Master Death File at SSA to destroy their ability to participate in society and to “self-deport” as a result.
4/10/25
Greg Pearre, a senior career executive overseeing technologists at the SSA, is forced out of his office by security guards after clashing with CIO Scott Coulter and calling his plan to forcibly declare immigrants dead both illegal and cruel
4/18/25
Some immigrants have been forced to prove they aren’t dead after being added to the Master Death File in an attempt to force them to “self-deport.” The White House had falsely claimed nobody was really declared dead.
c.6/05/25
Frank Bisignano is granted permission to remove any DOGE staff at his agency. According to the report, “Bisignano parted ways with one DOGE staffer from SSA, who in June moved to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” The date and person isn’t named, but the CIO replacement at SSA and NASA connection suggest it’s Scott Coulter who was removed in early June.
6/28/25
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.