BOYERS, PA —
On Tuesday, the Trump administration initiated a “last day on paper” for federal retirees, allowing rare access to a little-known facility located over 230 feet underground in a limestone mine in Pennsylvania. This site has long been involved in the retirement processing, where physical government records had kept the system anchored in analog for decades.
Scott Cooper, the director of the U.S. Office of Human Resources Management, shared his astonishment during an interview: “It’s something I’ve never seen before. I think that’s the general reaction I get from a lot of people…I think a lot of people agree.” He noted that government employees often feel restricted by a system that stifles innovation and risk-taking.
“The only difference between my tenure and my predecessors is that I empowered people to tackle issues that clearly needed resolution,” he said.
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For many years, retirement applications had to be physically exchanged between federal agencies before reaching OPM’s Retirement Operations Center in Boyers. Here, employees would manually handle around 10,000 retirements each month, working through a staggering 400 million paper records. OPM has now shifted towards digital records, announcing plans to shred the documents currently stored in the mine.
As the human resources arm of the federal government, OPM oversees policies and personnel systems affecting millions of federal employees and retirees.
Cooper mentioned that previous administrations, including Biden’s, had contemplated modernizing the online retirement application process, though progress proved difficult. “The idea of online retirement applications… it was simply never picked up,” he remarked.
The federal retirement system has mainly adhered to a paper-centric approach since its inception in the 1980s. Although several modernization attempts were made over the years, it wasn’t until the Trump administration’s push that the shift to an online retirement application gained momentum due to public criticism of the earlier system.
The underground facility has been branded as a national icon for government inefficiency, especially after Elon Musk described it as “a time warp” during a visit last year. “Instead of waiting six months for paper to go to the mines, people can now retire whenever they want,” Musk told Fox News Digital.
Recognition for Innovation
Cooper credited both Musk and U.S. Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia for their transformative contributions. “This illustrates a broader perspective of what Elon and the DOGE team achieved: rethinking processes and creatively seeking solutions to enhance government efficiency,” he stated.
Iron Mountain, where this mine is located, offers secure archive storage for various organizations and government agencies, housing diverse records and artifacts.
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Cooper emphasized the significance of transitioning from paper to electronic records, mentioning that the security advantages are substantial. “From a security perspective, switching to electronic records offers benefits that clearly surpass any potential risks,” he noted.
He further advocated for innovative approaches within the government as a means to lessen taxpayer burdens. “The president has encouraged us to apply our innovative skills to modernize government services. This will not just improve service quality, but also yield greater efficiencies,” he remarked.
Ultimately, this transformation could enable more funds to reach the American people, reducing the need to frequently seek additional resources from Congress.
