- The US Government’s General Service Administration Department 18F is dissolved
- Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency seems to be behind the cuts
- 18F was a software and shopping group that helped a number of public agencies
A Technology Unit from General Services Administration (GSA) has had its budget everything except eliminated, which affects about 70 software engineers and strategists as well as researchers, service designers and purchasing specialists.
The cuts were masterminded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and are part of an ongoing campaign to cut government expenses.
Founded in 2014, the unit developed, 18F, important public turned IT services, such as Login.gov – Central Login System for Services such as Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare. 18F was also responsible for helping state agencies buy and build technology, improve the user experience and make services available, and the device cooperated with many departments so that the effects of the cuts will be felt everywhere.
A SLGGEHAMMER -approach
The department had previously been labeled as a ‘remote government-wide computer office’ by a Musk supporter, as the de-facto DODE director replied ‘This group has been deleted’.
“All 18F’s support for this work has now suddenly stopped,” the group said in a statement.
“Since the entire staff was also placed on administrative leave, we have been locked out of our computers and have no chance of helping with an orderly transition in our work. We don’t even have access to our personal employment data. We need to return our equipment but cannot use our E -mail to find out how or where. “
These are not the first federal workers to be laid off with over 110,000 federal employees leaving their positions since Trump took up, although about 77,000 of these accepted the administration’s deferred resignation.
“Dismantling 18F follows the slip of the original American digital service. These cuts are just the latest in a series of a sledge hammer approach to the critical US teams that support IT infrastructure. “
DOGE was also recently hit by a wave of litigation after complaints that the department violated the privacy of millions of Americans by accessing “extraordinarily sensitive” details of federal workers and anyone who has ever applied for a federal job.
