Page 92 - profiles 2019 working copy containing all bios as of Feb 20 final version

of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a moderate conservative, whom I
admired and respected. I was inspired by then candidate for President of the

United States of America, John F. Kennedy, who asked young people to “Ask
not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your
country.” That challenge resonated with me and I decided to enter the federal

service. During my early days, I was dealing directly with the citizens of our
country – taking and adjudicating claims for benefits both in a government
office and in people’s homes if they were physically unable to travel to an

office. I conducted investigations to ensure that employers were reporting
wages for their employees properly. I made educational contacts with
employers, doctors, hospitals and organizations to ensure all understood the
need for supporting the universal program to provide benefits to the American

people when they could no longer work due to advanced age or disability or to
the worker’s survivors upon their death. I also gave talks when changes were
made to the law or when new programs (e.g. Medicare) were enacted into law.

Often, I was giving talks about Social Security 3-4 nights per week in addition
to working 40 hours per week during daytime hours. These were done
without “overtime pay” as I was salaried but I didn’t mind as I was proud to
be serving the American people. Near the end of my career, I occupied

executive positions and continued to work more than a 40-hour week –
traveling on weekends on business, bringing memos and policy papers home
to read at night as I was “tied up” with meetings during the day. I did not

mind as my co-workers were as dedicated and doing the same.

I am Barbara Cuffie and I served in the Social Security Administration

(SSA) for almost 38 years before retiring in 2004. During my lengthy career,
I spent most of my time as the Principal Security Officer in the Office of
Systems at the SSA Headquarters. I had many other positions before
becoming the head of the Security and Integrity Branch. I began my career as
an authorizer of disability claims, where I had to determine if individuals

applying for disability met all the legal requirements other than having a
disabling condition to receive disability benefits under Title II of the Social
Security Act. I had many highlights during my lengthy career at SSA. The
following are some of the highlights. I became a systems programmer and a

systems analyst who helped to develop the first Claims Automated Processing
System, which greatly reduced the time it took to process disability claims. I
later led the team that developed the first disaster recovery plan for the

National Computer Center, which housed the computers that processed almost

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