Social Security systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, an archaic programming language. Safely rewriting that code would take years—DOGE wants it done in months.
65 million people in the US currently receive Social Security benefits. They're considering Java as a replacement.
The project is being organized by Elon Musk lieutenant Steve Davis, multiple sources who were not given permission to talk to the media tell WIRED, and aims to migrate all SSA systems off COBOL, one of the first common business-oriented programming languages, and onto a more modern replacement like Java within a scheduled tight timeframe of a few months.
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SSA’s core “logic” is also written largely in COBOL. This is the code that issues social security numbers, manages payments, and even calculates the total amount beneficiaries should receive for different services, a former senior SSA technologist who worked in the office of the chief information officer says. Even minor changes could result in cascading failures across programs.
If you are proficient in software development, leaning a new language doesn't take very long. You can do it in a week. You won't be a master, but the important aspects of programming, techniques, algorithms, design patterns and stuff of that nature, apply to any language. The problem with COBOL in particular, as far as I understand it, is not the language, but the implementations. Ancient systems with unique limitations, 50 year old implementation deficiencies, obscure bugs with obscure workarounds. That knowledge is very specific, and can't be carried over from someone who's only programming experience is writing C# for the Unity engine.
In reality, the COBOL system should be scrapped and replaced entirely, but the mission here is to destroy it, not to capture all the minutia of business logic encoded in this system and transition to a modern implementation. They will replace 90% of the logic with
return ClaimDenierFactory::Instantiate().