As Elon Musk’s DOGE team continues its efforts to dismantle the US government’s primary agency for distributing foreign aid, its overseas employees are stuck in limbo. Workers at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are stationed in dozens of different countries around the world, but reports from ABCContinue Reading
Federal employees are seeking a temporary restraining order as part of a class action lawsuit accusing a group of Elon Musk’s associates of allegedly operating an illegally connected server from the fifth floor of the US Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) headquarters in Washington, DC. An attorney representing two federalContinue Reading
A 25-year-old engineer named Marko Elez, who previously worked for two Elon Musk companies, has direct access to Treasury Department systems responsible for nearly all payments made by the US government, three sources tell WIRED. Two of those sources say that Elez’s privileges include the ability not just to readContinue Reading
USAID staff who still have access to their email accounts received a notice on Monday evening from Ken Jackson, the agency’s assistant to the administrator for management and resources, saying that the agency “would likely undergo a reorganization” and be integrated into the State Department. “As we evaluate USAID andContinue Reading
In a Monday morning meeting, Thomas Shedd, the recently appointed Technology Transformation Services director and Elon Musk ally, told General Services Administration workers that the agency’s new administrator is pursuing an “AI-first strategy,” sources tell WIRED. Throughout the meeting, Shedd shared his vision for a GSA that operates like aContinue Reading
PERSONAL DATA The pace and intensity of Musk’s operation, which is using employees brought from his own companies, has caught opponents off guard. In one especially tense episode, Musk’s team insisted on gaining access to the Treasury’s highly sensitive payment system, which is used for dispatching trillions of dollars aContinue Reading
Following a White House edict effectively banning federal employees from disclosing their personal pronouns in email signatures, sources within multiple federal agencies say pronouns are now being systemically blocked across multiple email clients and other software. WIRED confirmed various automated efforts with employees at the United States Agency for InternationalContinue Reading
Both Bobba and Coristine are listed in internal OPM records reviewed by WIRED as “experts” at OPM, reporting directly to Amanda Scales, its new chief of staff. Scales previously worked on talent for xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, and as part of Uber’s talent acquisition team, per LinkedIn. Employees atContinue Reading
On Friday, staff at what was formerly the United States Digital Service and is now part of Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative met with Stephanie Holmes, who identified herself as a part of the DOGE team and as the staff’s new HR representative. Throughout the meeting, which started at noon ET,Continue Reading
Several government websites have been taken down, including the usaid.gov, foreignassistance.gov, neglecteddiseases.gov, and childreninadversity.gov. A WIRED analysis of more than 1,000 federal .gov websites found that at least seven sites linked to a USAID server went offline in a two-hour span on Saturday afternoon. On Friday, Reuters reported that wordContinue Reading
