Federal employees blast Trump’s ruthless 'campaign of fear': report

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on, after attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, U.S., June 8, 2026. REUTERS Nathan Howard

Former and current employees of Homeland Security say the lieutenants President Donald Trump brought in are strong-arming employees into signing off on potentially illegal polices and pushing out those who refuse, reports the Guardian.

“They wanted employees to sign off on efforts even when we believed they were immoral, illegal or ahistorical,” said Harun Ahmed, a former deputy chief in the administration’s refugee affairs law division. “It didn’t matter what our expertise was. They wanted our blessing.”

“Over the past four months, the Guardian spoke with more than three dozen current and former Department of Homeland Security officials who described a climate of fear driven by Trump loyalists in senior positions, who sidelined or removed career officials who raised concerns about possibly illegal acts, and threatened termination or arrest in order to stop dissent,” reports the Guardian.

Several career staff internally objected to changes under former head Kristi Noem regarding enforcement and incarceration, “but many of the people who pushed back were sidelined, blacklisted or removed from projects,” said Ahmed.

Others discussed the administration’s paranoid crusade against leakers, and they claimed they were subjected to polygraph examinations conducted by US military personnel.

“Multiple current and former DHS officials told the Guardian that they had witnessed or personally been subjected to polygraph examinations – not as part of routine security reviews, but as a tool of intimidation,” said the Guardian, adding that several former and current officials who corroborated one another’s claims.

Trump lieutenants also appeared to have made the polygraph tests — some of them lasting six hours — potentially a criminal matter, with several former officials who underwent the tests recalling being read their Miranda rights before questioning began.

“I was Mirandized,” one official recalled. “Miranda warnings are only for criminal investigations and prosecutions. There is no civil or employment context for being read your rights. It strongly implied that I was going to be arrested and leave in handcuffs.”

None of the former officials said they were made aware of the underlying allegations behind their test or given an opportunity to respond before being ordered to appear for testing. All said they believed the justification was fabricated and used to create a climate of fear.

And then came the involuntary reassignments.

“There’s a petulance and a vindictiveness that is endemic in these people,” said Ron Rosenberg, a former senior executive service leader. “It’s reminiscent of the anti-communist paranoia of the McCarthy era. It’s no different.”

Officials say their agency became consumed by internal power struggles, political pressure and demands for personal loyalty. And if leaders couldn’t remove certain employees, members of their staff became targets. Employees who had spent decades inside the department, including front-office personnel responsible for scheduling, travel coordination and daily operations, were reassigned, pushed aside or dismissed, according to the Guardian.

But multiple current employees say nothing of substance has changed since Noem’s removal. New director Markwayne Mullin “has little authority to chart his own course” under a Trump administration that demands total adherence to its micromanaging.

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