WASHINGTON — Over the objections of many of its own employees, the Social Security Administration is gearing up for a major effort to publicize the financial problems of Social Security and to convince the public that private investment accounts are needed as part of any solution.

The agency's plans are set forth in internal documents, including a "tactical plan" for communications and marketing of the idea that Social Security faces dire financial problems requiring immediate action.

Social Security officials say the agency is carrying out its mission to educate the public, including more than 47 million beneficiaries, and to support the agenda of President Bush.

But agency employees have complained that they are being conscripted into a political battle over the future of the program. They question the accuracy of recent statements by the agency, and they say that money from the Social Security trust fund should not be used for such advocacy.

"Trust-fund dollars should not be used to promote a political agenda," said Dana Duggins, a vice president of the Social Security Council of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 50,000 of the agency's 64,000 workers and has opposed private accounts.

Deborah Fredericksen of Minneapolis, who has worked for the Social Security Administration for 31 years, said, "Many employees believe that the president and this agency are using scare tactics to promote private accounts."

In his weekly radio address yesterday, Bush said Social Security "is on the road to bankruptcy" and will be unable to pay promised benefits to future generations. The president is promoting a plan that would allow workers to divert part of their Social Security payroll taxes into private investment accounts.

He said the cost of fixing the system grows larger each year, and he quoted Social Security trustees as saying that waiting just one year would add $600 billion to the price of a solution.

"If we do not act now, government will eventually be left with two choices: dramatically reduce benefits or impose a massive economically ruinous tax increase," Bush said. "Leaving our children with such a mess would be a generational betrayal."

Democrats countered Bush's arguments in their address an hour later. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan said her party is waiting for a detailed proposal from Bush. But she said one White House memo suggests he wants to cut benefits for future workers by up to 45 percent.

"The benefit cuts would apply to all seniors, even those who choose not to invest in privatized accounts," Stabenow said.

Long-term challenges

Social Security does face long-term challenges, she said, but private investment isn't the answer.

"America's insurance policy was never meant to be a privatized 401(k) plan or a high-risk investment," she said. "It was meant to be the secure foundation for your retirement."

Social Security trustees say the program's problems will grow as baby boomers retire. The program will pay out more in benefits than it collects in revenue in 2018, they say. By 2042, they say, the trust fund will be exhausted, and tax income will be sufficient to pay only 73 percent of scheduled benefits.

Social Security employees denied that their concerns were motivated by a bureaucratic mentality, a fear of change or a desire to protect their jobs.

"There's a lot more to it than that," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents lawyers and paralegals at the Social Security Administration. "There's a genuine concern about how people will live when they retire, a real fear that Social Security benefits could be eroded by private accounts."

Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, said the agency has a duty "to educate the public about the financial challenges facing Social Security," but has not prepared a script to use in answering questions from the public.

The Bush administration ran afoul of a ban on "covert propaganda" when it used tax money to promote the new Medicare drug benefit and to publicize the dangers of drug abuse by young people. The administration acknowledged paying a conservative commentator, Armstrong Williams, to promote its No Child Left Behind education policy. But on Social Security, unlike those issues, the government has not concealed its role.

The agency's strategic communications plan says the following message is to be disseminated to "all audiences" through speeches, seminars, public events, radio, television and newspapers: "Social Security's long-term financing problems are serious and need to be addressed soon," or else the program may not "be there for future generations."

The plan says that Social Security managers should "discuss solvency issues at staff meetings," "insert solvency messages in all Social Security publications" and spread the word at nontraditional sites such as farmers' markets and "big-box retail stores."

"The crisis is now"

Bush has created a sense of urgency by declaring that "the crisis is now."

A slide show, presented to various audiences by James Lockhart III, deputy commissioner of Social Security, says "benefit cuts would be drastic" after 2042 if the Social Security law and payroll-tax rates continue unchanged.

A policy brief prepared by the agency says those benefit cuts "would double the poverty rate of Social Security beneficiaries aged 64 to 78."

Witold Skwierczynski, president of the Social Security Council of the federation of government employees, said: "Some of the information being imparted by agency officials is not factual, not accurate. There is no immediate crisis."

In interviews, other Social Security employees expressed similar views. But council members were more willing to allow use of their names because a federal law generally protects them against "penalty or reprisal" when they speak publicly or testify before Congress.

The official policy brief, analyzing the consequences of inaction, was written by Andrew Biggs, the associate commissioner of Social Security for retirement policy. Biggs, 37, joined Bush in making the case for private accounts at a White House forum last week.

When he was an analyst at the Cato Institute, Biggs championed private accounts, saying they "would pay substantially higher retirement benefits than the current Social Security program" because some payroll taxes could be invested in stocks and corporate bonds rather than in government securities.

Other analysts, including the Congressional Budget Office, have reached a different conclusion. They say the combination of benefits from the trust fund and individual accounts is likely to be less than actual benefits under the current system.

Robert Ball, who worked at the Social Security Administration for three decades and was commissioner under Democratic and Republican presidents from 1962-73, said: "It's fine for the agency to answer factual questions, but it's unusual to use the Civil Service organization to push a political agenda, especially because what they're saying is not true. The program is not going bankrupt."

When asked about the outlook for Social Security, several agency officials pointed to a White House "fact sheet" that says, "By 2042, when workers in their mid-20s begin to retire, the system will be bankrupt — unless we act now to save it."

Information about Bush's radio address and the Democrats' response was provided by The Associated Press.