WIRED spoke with more than 200 federal workers in dozens of agencies to learn what happened as the Department of Government Efficiency tore through their offices.
Lambert here: This is a long article, and I’ve excerpted only the most egregious quotes. However, all the government entities and all the people in the article are tagged, so if you don’t see them in this post, check the original.
The true scope of DOGE’s attack on the federal government remains unknown. While there is no reason to think it achieved meaningful cost savings or operational efficiencies, the ramifications of building a master database to track and surveil immigrants are just beginning to be felt, and its cadre of Musk protégés and tech entrepreneurs remain embedded in agencies throughout the executive branch. The possibilities this opens up—of private takeovers of government operations, of the government embracing Silicon Valley’s ethos of moving fast and breaking things—remain open.
“I kept comparing it to a natural disaster,” one worker at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told WIRED. “But it wasn’t natural. Just a stampede of wide-eyed, confused government employees moving files around and looking over their shoulders because they think maybe Elon was creeping behind them with a chain saw.”
“I met Kyle and Ethan on January 23, and I very briefly bumped into Coristine before anyone was talking about him. I would describe them all as giddy, excited, curious, passionate, and super interested in learning about and jumping in on this new thing. I was super excited too at first.
“Then the next week it felt like everything shifted and suddenly they were no longer curious or asking questions or on an adventure and instead they were just frantically running around trying to do impossible shit with no context and no flexibility and no ability to push back.
“I thought maybe it would turn around. But it never did.” —General Services Administration (GSA) worker
“My big aha moment came late, because for so long I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. These guys were young, and they had a job to do, and yes, they were doing it aggressively—but again, I assumed the best. But then Ethan Shaotran went on Fox News, on Jesse Watters. He just trash-talked us pretty bad, conflating things they’d found at other agencies, basically implying we were misappropriating grant money. It made my blood boil. Ethan had to know that wasn’t true. That was it for me—there is no good faith at all.” —Federal worker
“The vibe they gave was ‘So, what is it that you do here?’ and ‘Why can’t AI do that?’” —Technology Transformation Services worker
“Because we are part of Homeland Security, there’s always an armed guard at FEMA facilities. …. [Then a new guard]officer walks through. This time, it’s somebody we’ve never seen before, and he’s like, kitted out. He’s dressed in all black from head to toe; he’s got body armor on. He’s wearing a tactical helmet. He’s got a big gun on him, like a rifle, not like a handgun in a side pouch. He did not have a visible name tag, which is not standard at all—everybody in a federal facility is required to identify themselves at all times, and he had no individual identifying markings. The only writing on his uniform was the big yellow text on his back that said HOMELAND SECURITY.
“He was walking through the office as slowly as he could. He would pause behind you and watch what you were doing for five to 20 seconds and then move on. His entire demeanor, it was very obvious he wanted us to see him, and he wanted to see us watching him. These are fucking office workers working on laptops. We’re doing spreadsheets and PowerPoints. Like, chill out, dude….
The officer announces—not just to my coworker but to as many people as can hear him—‘No, I don’t want your help. I’m just here to patrol you and to desensitize you to my presence.’ Then he just keeps on walking. —FEMA employee
“I knew what the powers that be were doing wasn’t legal. So either they were incompetent and didn’t know it was illegal, or they knew it was illegal and didn’t care. Which one is scarier?” —CDC employee
“I had to turn over access to our website and social media accounts. Ethan Shaotran asked me to turn over the login info to the website, to Facebook, Instagram, and X. I gave the passwords and usernames for those accounts. He came back later and asked for the address to log in to the WordPress account. I tried to just give the exact information they asked for because I wanted to passively resist. That’s why DOGE didn’t get access to our LinkedIn—they didn’t ask for it. The public considers these guys to be tech geniuses, but I’d say WordPress is pretty intuitive. It took them two days to take the website down.” —Federal worker
“In April, I happened to come across a partial list of employees and contractors who had not completed some of their mandatory security training. I wasn’t surprised to see that DOGE-affiliated names made up more than a quarter of the list. It included [Technology Transformation Services director] Thomas Shedd, [Federal Acquisition Service head] Josh Gruenbaum, Ed Coristine, Luke Farritor, and Steven Davis. —Current GSA IT contractor
“I’m the type of person where, like, if you push me I’ll push back. I don’t like to live in a mindset of despair and negativity. When these people do this shit, it just lights my fire. It makes me more fucking mad. This used to be the best job I’ve ever had, the best environment I’ve ever had, the best culture I’ve ever had—and they fucking ruined it. I will never ever forget how much they ruined it. I’m like, fuck these people. They can’t get me scared. I will not give them what they want. I will not just leave. I’m going to make it as difficult as possible for these fuckheads.” —FEMA employee
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