A significant portion of staff at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has resigned in protest, citing concerns over the direction the department is taking under Musk’s leadership.
In a letter addressed to White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, 21 staff members expressed their refusal to implement changes they believe would undermine national security and jeopardize vital government services.
The resignations come from employees who were initially part of the United States Digital Service (USDS), a critical government initiative designed to improve digital services.
These employees had worked on high-priority projects, including Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, healthcare, and disaster relief, until DOGE was restructured under President Donald Trump’s administration in January.
Musk, although not the official administrator of DOGE, assumed a central role in directing its operations, leveraging his position as a “special government employee” and senior adviser to the president.
Musk has responded to the resignations by downplaying their significance, referring to the departing workers as political holdovers who refused to comply with orders to return to the office.
He described them as unfit for the roles they held, further emphasizing his drive to reduce federal staffing and spending.
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The protesting staff members, who were originally part of the USDS, warned that the recent mass resignations, coupled with the loss of critical expertise, could compromise vital systems and jeopardize the security of American data.
The tensions reached a breaking point on February 14, when a third of the USDS staff were unexpectedly terminated via an anonymous email, some of whom had worked on essential services.
Musk’s push to streamline federal staffing and reduce the size of the government workforce is causing considerable unrest.
Engineers in DOGE are reportedly working on new software to make firing federal employees—especially those with stronger civil service protections—more efficient.
This comes on the heels of a controversial email sent to two million federal workers, demanding they justify their roles or risk termination, which many government departments have advised employees to disregard.
