More than 20 staffers at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have resigned, after 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 workers wrote in a joint resignation letter on Tuesday, obtained by The Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
The staffers who resigned worked for what was once known as the United States Digital Service, an office established during Barack Obama’s administration. All had previously held senior roles at such tech companies as Google and Amazon, but had joined the government out of a sense of duty to public service.
“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.”
In the resignation letter the employees also warned that many of those brought on board by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under Donald Trump’s administration were severely under-qualified and inexperienced for the task.
The day after Trump’s inauguration, the former staffers wrote, they were called into a series of interviews conducted by mysterious and unknown individuals, many of whom were young and seemingly guided by ideology and fandom of Musk, rather than a desire to improve government technology.
According to the staffers’ letter, the interviewers wore White House visitors’ badges and grilled the nonpartisan employees about their qualifications and politics. Some made statements that indicated they had a limited technical understanding, according to the staffers.
“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 resignation letter stated. “This process created significant security risks.”
Earlier this month, about 40 staffers in the office were laid off. The firings dealt a devastating blow to the government’s ability to administer and safeguard 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,” the resignation letter stated. “Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American’s data less safe.”
The mass 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 that have sought to stall, stop or unwind their efforts to fire or coerce thousands of government workers out of jobs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
