As Elon Musk’s Department of Government Accountability moves to cut the federal government and fire workers, twenty-one employees are resigning, citing a refusal to “dismantle critical public services,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the staffers, who were engineers, data scientists and product managers, wrote in a joint resignation letter, which the AP published. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
The staffers worked for what was previously called the United States Digital Service, which was established during Barack Obama’s presidency.
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“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” they wrote. “We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.”
“I believe that Elon Musk is up to no good. And I believe that any data that he gains access to is going to be used for purposes that are inappropriate and harmful to Americans,” Jonathan Kamens, a DOGE engineer who was let go earlier this month, told the AP. Kamens thinks he was fired because he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
“Unfortunately, to Musk this is probably a feature, not a bug,” Doug Fisher, former AP news editor, posted on X.
“Whatever they're planning is really bad to force a mass resignation like this,” Alejandra Caraballo, civil rights attorney and clinical instructor at Harvard’s Law Cyberlaw Clinic, posted on Bluesky.
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Cordell Schachter, who until last month was the chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation, took issue with the breakneck speed at which the Trump administration was moving. “‘Move fast and break things’ may be acceptable to someone who owns a business and owns the risk. And if things don’t go well, the damage is compartmentalized. But when you break things in government, you’re breaking things that belong to people who didn’t sign up for that,” he said.