In the 1960s, Bob Dylan released an album called "The Times, They Are a-Changin'." I seriously doubt that the troubadour was thinking about Social Security when he wrote those ballads. But I can tell you that the times sure are a-changin' at the Social Security Administration. And time will tell if those changes are for the good.

I've heard from more than a few friends who still work for the SSA. And most of them report that morale is at an all-time low. The agency's new commissioner, appointed by President Donald Trump, is really shaking things up. I was initially inclined to sympathize with my friends, and I planned to write a column critical of the changes. But upon further reflection, I've decided to withhold judgment. I'm going to wait and see how things play out.

More about the changes in a minute. But first, let me point out that during my 32-year career with the SSA, I went through probably 10 different changes in leadership at the top. And I can tell you that each new commissioner comes in saying that he or she is going to shake things up and make things better. And I guess that's really no surprise. After all, espousing change is just the nature of leadership. Everybody who comes to power, whether it's the president of the United States or the president of the local Chamber of Commerce or the Commissioner of Social Security, says he or she is going to do things differently (and supposedly better) than the old leaders.

But Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano is really shaking things up. For example, a lot of former administrative people have been moved into frontline positions, mostly being put on the phones taking claims and answering questions from members of the public who call the agency's toll-free number (800-772-1213).

I'm guessing many readers of this column would say, "That's good. We need fewer bureaucrats and more frontline people." And that may be true. But I'll just give you the other side of the coin by discussing a department within the Social Security Administration that I am most familiar with. It is the Office of Communications. It essentially did what its name implies — it "communicated" Social Security messages to the public. For example, it created and produced about a hundred different publications that are provided free of charge to the American people that explain all the various Social Security programs. Another department within the Office of Communications answered the hundreds and hundreds of letters and emails from the public that came into the agency's headquarters every day. Another branch provided liaison services with members of Congress.

Anyway, the Office of Communications, which formerly had over 200 employees, is now down to about 20. Everyone else has either been furloughed or is now on telephone duty. I guess we'll just have to find out if and how those publications will get produced and if those letters and emails will get answered.

And I'm guessing Commissioner Bisignano thinks Artificial Intelligence (AI) might be the answer. And maybe he's right. I simply don't know enough about the new technology to have a strong opinion one way or the other. But I will share this. Occasionally, I will do a Google search on a specific Social Security topic. And as those of you who do routine Google searches know, the first answer that always comes up is an AI answer. And so far, I have been impressed by the AI answers I get on Social Security matters. They have always been accurate.

So now, having briefly discussed just a few of the changes happening at the Social Security Administration, I'm going to spend the rest of this column waxing nostalgic about the "good old days."

I spent a good bit of my early SSA career as what the agency called a "field representative." While the major SSA workforce sat at desks all day and took claims from people who came into a local Social Security office, field reps went out to remote locations and set up shop for a day, usually in a senior center or some other public building in these far-flung towns.

For example, in the late 1970s, I was the field representative in the Everett, Washington Social Security office. Our service area was interesting and varied. It ran from islands in the Puget Sound to little hamlets in the Cascade Mountains.

Once a week, I would get on a ferry just outside of Everett and take a trip over to Whidbey Island. There, I would go to the senior center in Langley and open up my little mini-Social Security office. I would spend the day helping young people get Social Security cards and helping old people file for Social Security benefits. After spending 5 or 6 hours there, I would head back to the ferry with my briefcase stuffed with filled-out applications and forms.

Then the next day, I would drive up to a little Cascade mountain hamlet called Skykomish, Washington, and start the process all over again. A couple days later, I'd be off to another island (Camano Island).

A few years later, I found myself as the field representative in the Social Security office in Boise, Idaho. Boise's service area was huge — a big chunk of south and central Idaho. So there, I found myself taking overnight trips to distant locales. For example, I would leave Boise on a Tuesday morning, drive north a hundred miles or so and set up shop for the rest of the morning in Cascade, Idaho. After taking care of the local townsfolk there, I would continue driving north for about 3 hours or so to the resort town of McCall, Idaho, with a majestic mountain setting right on an alpine lake, The next morning, I would set up my little mini-Social Security office in a senior center.

And as a field representative, I even made "house calls," going to the homes of people who were housebound but needed help with Social Security matters.

All these memories bring a smile to my face. I think of my time as a field representative as the "good old days" of Social Security. The service we provided was phenomenal! The Social Security Administration was always winning awards for superior customer service.

But that was then, and this is now. Today, with the internet and cell phones and artificial intelligence, I guess it makes no economic sense to be running around from hamlet to hamlet and house to house. But it's also too bad. We've lost a way of doing Social Security business that I think was something special.

Still, having waxed nostalgic, I'm crossing my fingers that a new Social Security Administration, with fewer administrative people, more frontline personnel, and help and answers from AI "bots," will win public service awards in the future.

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has two books with all the answers. One is called "Social Security — Simple and Smart: 10 Easy-to-Understand Fact Sheets That Will Answer All Your Questions About Social Security." The other is "Social Security: 100 Myths and 100 Facts." You can find the books at Amazon.com or other book outlets. Or you can send him an email at [email protected]. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Craig Whitehead at Unsplash