Lawmakers face backlash over Elon Musk and DOGE during town halls
Lawmakers from around the country are facing tough questions and tense atmospheres at town hall events over their stances on DOGE.
WASHINGTON – Twenty-one federal technology employees resigned Tuesday in protest of billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they will not use their skills to “dismantle critical public services.”
All are DOGE civil service employees who previously worked for the U.S. Digital Service, which was rebranded and converted to DOGE through a day-one executive order by President Donald Trump.
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the joint resignation letter, obtained by USA TODAY, reads. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments at the United States DOGE Service.”
The resignations – from a group that includes computer engineers, designers and product managers ‒ mark a setback for Musk’s DOGE efforts to lean on in-house IT experts to make drastic cuts to the federal government and workforce.
The letter singles out DOGE for “firing technical experts, mishandling sensitive data, and breaking critical system,” arguing the actions contradict its stated mission to modernize federal technology and software to maximize government efficiency and productivity.
“These actions are not compatible with the mission we joined the United States Digital Service to carry out: to deliver better services to the American people through technology and design,” reads the letter, addressed to Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff.
“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.”
Harrison Fields, principal deputy White House press secretary, downplayed the resignations in a statement to USA TODAY.
“DOGE has effectively become part of the (U.S. Digital Service) as a component of the White House, and any leftover career bureaucrats who don’t align with the President or DOGE are neither advised nor welcomed to be a part of this never-before-seen mission to make the government more efficient,” Fields said.
The Associated Press first reported the resignation letter. The U.S. Digital Service was created during the Obama administration to improve IT infrastructure across the federal government following the rocky rollout of the Affordable Care Act federal website in 2013.
The 21 employees said they had all left senior private sector technology positions to pursue nonpartisan public service and remained committed and “stood ready to partner with incoming officials” following Trump’s election.
On Jan. 21, the day after Trump’s order to convert the Digital Service to DOGE, the 21 employees were subjected to 15-minute interviews by individuals wearing White House visitor badges, their resignation letter says. Several people conducting the interviews refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalties and demonstrated “limited technical ability,” the employees said.
“This process created significant security risk,” they wrote in the letter.
As part of the Trump administration’s mass firing of probationary federal workers, about one-third of the Digital Service was terminated by email on Feb. 14, they said in the letter.
“These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, healthcare, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services, “the staffers’ letter states. “Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day.”
DOGE representatives began integrating former Digital Service employees into their efforts on Feb. 16, according to the resignation letter.
Like most of the federal government’s 2.3 million workers, the former Digital Service employees received Trump’s buyout offer this month seeking their immediate resignations in exchange for eight months of pay through September. The 21 employees who resigned Tuesday passed on the offer.
“Many of our colleagues will choose to stay in the vital work of making government services and technology better,” they said in their letter. “They have our full support in their work ahead.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
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