Federal Tech Staff Sign Resignation Letter Over Musk’s Doge Cuts

A glimpse into the US civil service has emerged this week, amid the chaotic purging of the federal workforce by Donald Trump and his billionaire backer Elon Musk.

The Associated Press reported that 21 civil service employees have resigned Tuesday from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

Donald Trump had begun his second term in office by signing many executive orders, one of which announced it “establishes the Department of Government Efficiency to implement the President’s Doge Agenda, by modernising Federal technology and software to maximise governmental efficiency and productivity.”

Doge Cuts

In November Donald Trump had appointed both Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to head up an advisor group called the Department of Government Efficiency, with a remit to offer advice on cutting “wasteful” US government spending.

Doge is not a government department but will instead offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.”

Last month Vivek Ramaswamy stepped down as co head of Doge, leaving Elon Musk solely in charge.

Musk has previously stated they will seek to cut approximately $2 trillion from the federal budget and cut regulations.

It is understood that the wages of federal employees accounts for only 15 percent of the federal budget, which potentially means the bulk of cuts in the future will fall on US government projects, budgets and initiatives.

Staff resignation

Now the Associated Press reported it obtained a copy of the joint resignation letter by federal employees.

“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers reportedly wrote. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”

The employees also reportedly 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.

Some of these Doge employees also reportedly refused to identify themselves when challenged.

White house

Meanwhile there has been a flurry of court challenges that have sought to stall, stop or unwind Doge’s efforts to fire or coerce thousands of government workers out of jobs.

In a statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was dismissive of the mass resignation.

“Anyone who thinks protests, lawsuits, and lawfare will deter President Trump must have been sleeping under a rock for the past several years,” Leavitt said. “President Trump will not be deterred from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers.”

Musk meanwhile reportedly posted on his social media site X that the story was “fake news” and suggested that the staffers were “Dem political holdovers” who “would have been fired had they not resigned.”

APO reported that the staffers who resigned had worked for the United States Digital Service (USDS), but said their duties were being integrated into Doge.

All the staff who resigned previously held senior roles at such tech companies as Google and Amazon.