WIRED: DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Codebase In Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse

[Retrograde]

137. But there are still books on COBOL programming

Humans managed to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics when the last people who were fluent had been dead for nearly two millennia - converting COBOL to a new programming language shouldn't be that difficult*. It's not so much a matter of what the SSI system is written in as how it will be rewritten - who's going to provide the specs? who's going to vet the coders and their output? who's going to test the new code? who's going to test the new system (I doubt it's just one program)? what's the roll-out plan? what's the backup plan in case the new system fails?

*I've never written COBOL code, but back in the early 70s I used to pick up extra cash by keypunching. I hated COBOL programs because they were wordy and the keywords overly long IMHO.