WASHINGTON — More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
The employees also warned that many of those Musk enlisted to help him reduce the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump’s administration were political ideologues with insufficient skills or experience for the task at hand.
The widespread resignation of engineers, data scientists, and product managers is a temporary setback for Musk and the Republican president’s tech-driven purge of the federal workforce. It comes amid a flurry of court challenges attempting to stall, halt, or reverse their efforts to fire or coerce thousands of government employees.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday morning.
The resigned employees worked for what was previously known as the United States Digital Service, an office established during President Barack Obama’s administration following the botched rollout of Healthcare.gov, the web portal used by millions of Americans to sign up for insurance plans under the Democrat’s signature health-care law.
All had previously held senior positions at tech companies such as Google and Amazon, and their resignation letters stated that they joined the government out of a sense of duty to the public.
Trump’s empowerment of Musk changed all that. According to the staffers, the day after Trump’s inauguration, they were called in for a series of interviews that foreshadowed Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
According to the staff, people with White House visitor badges, some of whom refused to give their names, questioned the nonpartisan employees about their qualifications and politics. Some stated that they had a limited technical understanding. Many were young and appeared to be motivated by ideological beliefs and Musk fandom rather than improving government technology.
“Several of these interviewers refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalty, attempted to pit colleagues against each other, and demonstrated limited technical ability,” the staff members wrote in their letter. “This process created significant security risks.”
Earlier this month, approximately 40 employees in the office were laid off. The firings had a devastating impact on the government’s ability to manage and protect its own technological footprint, they wrote.
“These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services,” according to their resignation letter. “Their removal endangers millions of Americans who depend on these services on a daily basis. The sudden loss of their technological expertise makes critical systems and American data less secure.”
Those who remained, approximately 65 employees, were integrated into DOGE’s government-slashing initiative. On Tuesday, roughly one-third of them quit.
“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” the lawmakers said. “We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.”
Musk’s slash-and-burn strategy differs from what Trump initially proposed during the 2024 presidential campaign. DOGE, named after Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency meme coin, was originally envisioned as an independent commission.
Following the election, Musk hinted at more to come, writing on his social media site, X, “Threat to democracy?” No, it is a threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!” Since then, he has taken an aggressive approach to the role.
Last week, he stood on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, bragging about his exploits and wielding a blinged-out, Chinese-made chainsaw given to him by Argentine President Javier Milei.
“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” Musk said from the stage.
Still, Musk has attempted to retain technical talent, with the majority of layoffs in the Digital Service office targeting designers, product managers, human resources, and contracting staff, according to interviews with current and former employees.
Only one of the 40 people let go earlier this month was an engineer: Jonathan Kamens, an outspoken and politically active staffer who told the Associated Press that he believes he was fired for publicly endorsing Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris on his personal blog and criticizing Musk in conversations with colleagues.
“I believe Elon Musk is up to no good.” And I believe that any data he obtains will be used for inappropriate and harmful purposes against Americans,” Kamens stated.
Veterans of the United States Digital Service, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, described experiencing a similar shock about how government processes worked as Musk and his team are discovering. Over time, many people came to understand why certain things in government needed to be handled with greater care than in the private sector.
“‘Move fast and break things’ might be acceptable to someone who owns a business and bears the risk. And if things don’t go well, the damage is contained. But when you break things in government, you’re breaking things that belong to people who didn’t sign up for it,” said Cordell Schachter, the USDOT’s chief information officer until last month.
USDS was founded more than a decade ago to improve services for veterans and to help create a free government-run portal so that tax filers did not have to go through third parties such as TurboTax. It also developed systems to improve how the federal government purchases technology.
It has been embroiled in bureaucratic battles and agency turf wars, with chief information officers across government resenting outsiders infiltrating their agencies’ systems.
USDS’s influence throughout government stemmed from the imprimatur of acting on behalf of the White House and its founding mission of improving service to the American people.
