Not all bureaucrats are bad guys. Career civil servant Leland Dudek of the Social Security Administration has been committed to fighting fraud. Consequently, he cooperated with DOGE. For this he was fired.

Dudek confessed to his transgression on LinkedIn:

“I helped DOGE understand SSA. I mailed myself publicly accessible documents and explained them to DOGE. I confess. I moved contractor money around to add data science resources to my anti-fraud team. I confess. I asked where the fat was and is in our contracts so we can make the right tough choices.”

He continued:

“I confess. I bullied agency executives, shared executive contact information, and circumvented the chain of command to connect DOGE with the people who get stuff done.”

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. But wait:

Then, a stunning reversal occurred. It was Acting Social Security Commissioner Michelle King who was out of a job. And Dudek was reinstated with a big promotion — taking her job leading the massive agency on an interim basis.

The situation has gotten as bad as it is due to perverse incentives. Reverse the incentives, reverse the situation.

On a tip from R F.