The Social Security Administration (SSA) has appointed Aram Moghaddassi as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO). Moghaddassi, who has previously worked with the Department of Government Efficiency, takes over the IT leadership at SSA following a stint in another role within the agency. According to an update on CIO.gov, a portal showcasing IT leaders in government, Moghaddassi’s career includes positions at the U.S. Department of Labor and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
He has also been associated with Elon Musk-owned companies, including the social media platform X and Neuralink. Moghaddassi is the third affiliate from the Department of Government Efficiency to serve as CIO at SSA since President Donald Trump took office in January.
SSA announces new CIO
In other news, federal workers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have attempted to access technology from DeepSeek, a Chinese AI firm that has been a point of contention among lawmakers and domestic AI companies. A USDA spokesperson confirmed that there was one attempt to access DeepSeek’s technology, which was successfully blocked using Microsoft’s Defender for Cloud Application service. DeepSeek, based in China, is seen as a significant security concern due to its advanced large language model capabilities, rivaling those of prominent American AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic.
In response to these concerns, lawmakers have proposed the “No Adversarial AI Act,” which aims to ban the use of DeepSeek on government devices, create a registry of foreign adversary AI systems, and establish a process for delisting such technologies. The situation underscores the growing apprehension among U.S. officials regarding foreign AI technologies and their potential impact on national security.
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