Login.gov is key to administration anti-fraud efforts, GSA official says

The Trump administration appears to be backing Login.gov — the government’s single sign-on and identity proofing service — as a “critical part” of its planned efforts against fraud.

The director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services, Tesla alum Thomas Shedd, told agencies using Login.gov that the program won’t be affected by the recent elimination of GSA’s tech consultancy 18F, which helped build identity service during the Obama administration.

“I can assure you that Login.gov’s work carries forward as a critical part of Government-wide efforts to promote efficiency and fight fraud,” Shedd wrote in a Monday email obtained by Nextgov/FCW. “To that end we are working to accelerate Login’s roadmap. More to come on that soon.”

GSA recently started letting agencies ask for facial recognition via Login.gov. Any further changes to the service could affect millions of Americans, as over 100 million people have Login.gov accounts already to access government services, such as online Social Security accounts or unemployment insurance applications. Over 50 federal and state agencies use the service.

Some government agencies offer other options as well, or rely completely on outside vendors — such as the private company ID.me — to verify that someone is who they claim to be before giving them access to sensitive information or accounts. 

The roadmap referenced by Shedd includes plans to accept mobile drivers licenses and bolster Login.gov’s anti-fraud capabilities. Shedd himself has already told GSA employees that he wants to use Login.gov to root out fraud, with one employee calling his plans to use data about individuals to do so illegal, as 404 has reported.

How exactly Login.gov may intersect with the work of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency — and their attention to fraud — remains to be seen.

Identity theft has indeed fueled fraud in some government programs. The Government Accountability Office estimated in September that up to $135 billion in unemployment insurance alone went to bad actors during the pandemic, for example, with identity fraud being a “major contributor to UI fraud.”

But in the current administration, many of Trump and Musk’s claims of fraud have been debunked, as have assertions of savings. The administration has also fired many inspectors general, who could have been natural allies in a fight against fraud, given their mandate to prevent and find waste, fraud and abuse in government. 

“Fraud has always served as a powerful political trope, one that provides a rationale for cutting government,” two political scientists wrote recently of Trump 2.0. “The strategy is simple. Claim there’s fraud, dismantle the institutions that prevent fraud, and then capture public dollars for yourself.”

Big picture, cybersecurity and digital identity experts have bemoaned the lack of attention or unified strategy on digital identity for years. The Biden administration considered pushing agencies to adopt Login.gov, but ultimately didn’t include the service in a last-minute cybersecurity executive order after stalling on a potential identity-focused executive order for years.

A controversial offering

Shedd’s assurances on the future of Login.gov come even as some have called for the new administration to cut the service.

Emily Murphy — Trump’s head of GSA during his first term, who came under fire for taking weeks to declare former president Biden the winner of the 2020 election — wrote an opinion piece in January arguing that “GSA should sunset Login.gov,” calling it “redundant, over-budget and behind schedule.”

Murphy was in charge of GSA for most of the time period referenced in a bombshell GSA watchdog report released in 2023 that found the agency had been misleading its customers about Login.gov’s offerings for years — a report Murphy herself cited as among the reasons Login.gov should be cut. It detailed how GSA officials had misled partner agencies about the identity proofing standards met by Login.gov in particular, billing them over $10 million in the process.