The Social Security Administration, now under the control of an official installed by U.S. President Donald Trump, began the process of gutting whole segments of the agency and firing a huge portion of its already diminished workforce, sparking alarm among advocates who say the move will almost certainly result in benefit delays and disruptions.

The American Prospect, which first reported earlier this week that Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek was weighing staff cuts of up to 50%, obtained an email sent late Thursday indicating that the department has launched an “agency-wide organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions.”

“The email gives employees until March 14 to decide among a number of options,” the Prospect reported. “They can seek voluntary reassignments, or ‘separate from federal service through retirement or resignation.’ All employees at least 50 years of age with at least 20 years of service are being offered an ‘early out’ voluntary early retirement; that’s lower than the typical benchmarks for federal employees. Early retirees are typically eligible for an annuity.”

“In addition, between now and March 14 employees can take voluntary separation incentive payments of up to $25,000, depending on job classification. Employees are also encouraged in the email to resign and take the payout of their annual leave,” the outlet added.

Trump has pledged that Social Security “will not be touched,” but the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works argued that the assault on SSA “has only one goal: The total annihilation of Social Security by firing half of the workforce and closing the field offices.”

“Wall Street billionaires want to destroy Social Security so they can give themselves trillions in tax handouts,” the group wrote on social media.

The Prospect reported that while the email sent to SSA staff on Thursday “does state that some employees may be reassigned from so-called ‘non-mission critical’ positions to direct service positions at field offices and processing centers, it would be difficult to achieve large-scale reductions in force without impacting staff at the more than 1,200 field offices across the country.”

“Already, one large hearing office in White Plains, New York has been shuttered, and there are unclear plans for other lease terminations on the Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE) website,” the Prospect observed.

SSA, which is highly efficient despite being chronically understaffed, is one of a number of federal departments that Elon Musk’s lieutenants have infiltrated in recent weeks as part of a lawless onslaught against government workers and operations.

“The goal of this effort is to hollow out an agency that currently delivers retirement benefits with a 99.7% accuracy rate, and hand over the keys to private equity and grifters who want to pillage Social Security for all it’s worth.”

ProPublicareported over the weekend that DOGE staffers’ “first wave of actions” at SSA, including the elimination of dozens of jobs and shuttering of local offices, “was largely lost in the rush of headlines.”

“Those first steps might seem restrained compared with the mass firings that DOGE has pursued at other federal agencies,” the investigative outlet noted. “But Social Security recipients rely on in-person service in all 50 states, and the shuttering of offices, reported on DOGE’s website to include locations everywhere from rural West Virginia to Las Vegas, could be hugely consequential. The closures potentially reduce access to Social Security for some of the most vulnerable people in this country—including not just retirees but also individuals with severe physical and intellectual disabilities, as well as children whose parents have died and who’ve been left in poverty.”

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said Thursday that “firing half of all Social Security workers will guarantee that seniors will stop seeing their earned benefits arrive on time and in full.”

“Trump’s promises to protect Social Security are a sham, just like the rest of his actions since taking office,” Wyden added. “A plan like this will result in field office closures that will hit seniors in rural communities the hardest. The goal of this effort is to hollow out an agency that currently delivers retirement benefits with a 99.7% accuracy rate, and hand over the keys to private equity and grifters who want to pillage Social Security for all it’s worth.”