In a significant development, twenty-one federal employees who previously worked for the United States Digital Service (USDS) have resigned in protest. This move follows the recent rebranding of the agency by President Donald Trump to the United States DOGE Service. The employees released a letter on Tuesday, expressing their unwillingness to use their technical skills to dismantle critical public services.
The protesting employees were with USDS before its transition to DOGE and were not part of the recruitment by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been actively working on reducing the federal government's size. The letter from the 21 employees emphasized, "We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services."
In their letter, the employees clearly stated their refusal to lend their expertise to support or legitimize DOGE's actions. USDS, established in 2014 to enhance the federal government's technology systems, was renamed last month by Trump to align with the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Elon Musk responded to the Associated Press' story on the resignations via a social media post, stating, "These were Dem political holdovers who refused to return to the office. They would have been fired had they not resigned," he posted on his platform X.
The group of resigning employees included high-profile roles such as the department's head of IT, along with several engineers and product managers. According to the letter, following Trump's inauguration, the employees faced 15-minute interviews conducted by unidentified individuals wearing White House visitor badges. The letter also mentioned that on February 14, one-third of their USDS colleagues were indiscriminately terminated.
The employees highlighted their concerns over DOGE's actions, which include firing technical experts, mishandling sensitive data, and disrupting critical systems. These actions, they argue, are contrary to DOGE's stated mission of "modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."
The resignation of these employees raises significant questions about the future of federal technology services and the implications of DOGE's policies on public service efficiency and data security.
