Elon Musk just lost 21 DOGE staffers, who all quit at once today, citing in a joint memo that it was impossible to "uphold our oath to the Constitution" while working at the Department of Government Efficiency.
"We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations," the former employees of DOGE wrote in their resignation letter, obtained by the Associated Press. "However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments."
"We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services," they said in another part of the letter. "We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE's actions."
The resigning team also stated that DOGE's removal of "highly skilled civil servants…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."
From the Daily Beast:
The group of 21 said they refused to use their technical expertise to "dismantle critical public services"…
Those who quit Tuesday were civil service employees who had been a part of the digital service prior to the Musk's takeover, the AP reported. Among those leaving are engineers, data scientists, and product managers.
Those departing said they left careers at Google and Amazon "out of a sense of duty to public service," the AP added.
And from AP:
The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump's administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them. …
The day after Trump's inauguration, the staffers wrote, they were called into a series of interviews that foreshadowed the secretive and disruptive work of Musk's' Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
According to the staffers, people wearing White House visitors' badges, some of whom would not give their names, grilled the nonpartisan employees about their qualifications and politics. Some made statements that indicated they had a limited technical understanding. Many were young and seemed guided by ideology and fandom of Musk — not 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 staffers wrote in their letter. "This process created significant security risks."
No word on whether DOGE's 19-year-old "Big Balls" had the gonads to join this mass departure.
Previously: Musk's DOGE boy reportedly screams at senior staffers trying to protect personal data: "Idiots!"
