Who Needs 1,000 Social Security Offices?

President-elect Trump has tasked Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk with eliminating federal government waste through the Department of Government Efficiency. We believe there’s a huge opportunity to reduce government spending while improving service—by relocating more federal services online, supported by robust internet connections. Call it government over broadband. Today, more than 85 percent of the government’s three million workers are based outside Washington. Social Security, the Labor Department, the Agriculture Department, and the Small Business Administration each have about 1,000 field locations. Do we need all those offices, or even most of them? Many of the necessary steps for government over broadband are already afoot. If the Department of Government Efficiency accelerates a shift to internet-based services, citizens’ interactions with the government could be better, faster and cheaper. We would create the means and incentives to close what remains of the digital divide. And taxpayers would save billions. It’s a true win-win. 

[Blair Levin directed the 2010 U.S. National Broadband Plan. Larry Downes is a co-author, most recently, of “Pivot to the Future: Discovering Value and Creating Growth in a Disrupted World.”]