Because it wasn't that people who weren't alive any longer were getting paid Social Security.

It was that there was a live Social Security number which could be used throughout the whole system.

That's where you're going to have fraud ways and abuse.

Today I sit down with Frank Besignano, who oversees not one but two of America's most consequential

institutions, the Social Security Administration, SSA, and the Internal Revenue Service, IRS.

Before stepping into government, he built a career at the very top of finance, CEO of Ficer,

co-C-O of J.P. Morgan Chase, and the youngest senior vice president in American Express history at just 25.

Now he's taking on a different kind of challenge, bringing, in his words, accuracy to massive federal agencies that impact every American.

We have inaccurate information on a mission critical file, and we've cleaned that up.

What does it take to streamline systems this complex?

And can Social Security really survive the decades ahead?

This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Yanya Kellick.

Commissioner and CEO Frank Bisignano, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.

Thanks for having me. I'm honored to be here.

So you take care of two agencies which deal with an astonishing amount of cash.

I see here the Social Security Administration outweighs are about $1.7 trillion. And the IRS, Internal Revenue

Service, inflows of $5.6 trillion. That is an unfathomable amount of money that you are responsible

for. A big question that people have, right, is we keep hearing about waste, fraud, and abuse, right?

And this is something that's been a key issue for this administration.

So, you know, across these two agencies, what were the things that you found that perhaps were the most shocking or unbelievable and what and what corrections have you been implementing?

Well, you know, fraud waste and abuse happens in all shapes and sizes and all dimensions and those are some staggering numbers, but as I had said in my confirmation hearing

I was running a company

...