A group of civil service employees in the United States have announced their resignation from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), in the latest sign of discord within the administration of President Donald Trump.
The 21 employees issued a joint letter to DOGE leadership, which was also obtained by media outlets including The Associated Press.
In their statement on Tuesday, they accused DOGE of carrying out ideological attacks and risking the integrity of government systems.
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the employees wrote. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
The workers involved in the resignation included engineers, data scientists and product managers, all of whom were previously employed by top technology firms including Google and Amazon.
“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardise Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” they explained. “We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimise DOGE’s actions.”
Turmoil at DOGE
The resignations are the latest fallout from Trump’s scorched-earth approach to downsizing and reshaping the federal workforce.
Shortly after being elected to a second term in November, Trump tapped billionaire Elon Musk to oversee DOGE, a new panel whose purview was ambiguous.
At first, it was not clear how DOGE would function: whether it would exist outside of government or within it, for example. Critics also pointed out that independent oversight agencies already existed to ensure government efficiency.
But on his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order transforming the United States Digital Service — a preexisting office — into DOGE.
The Digital Service was created in 2014 to address technology hurdles. Its formation had been prompted by the White House’s struggles to launch a medical insurance portal for Americans, as part of then-President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms.
The employees who resigned on Tuesday were part of the Digital Service before it became DOGE.
They warned that their office had been visited by individuals wearing White House visitors’ passes, who interrogated employees about their political leanings and work experience.
They also denounced the layoffs that have been visited upon the DOGE staff. Earlier this month, about 40 staffers in the office were laid off — a drastic cut, according to Tuesday’s resignation letter.
The letter-writers warned that such sudden, steep declines in the workforce would undermine the White House’s ability to handle technology-based projects.
“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 states.
“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.”
Only about 65 employees remained in the office after the February layoffs