A Response to Musk’s Disturbation About the Deferred Resignation Offshore Job Opportunities in the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency

Multiple agency sources told WIRED last week that several of Musk’s lieutenants had been granted access to key computer systems controlled by the GSA, an independent agency tasked by Congress with overseeing federal buildings and providing equipment, supplies, and IT support across the government.

OPM emailed federal workers on January 28 with a “deferred resignation offer,” sparking widespread confusion among federal workers. (DOGE’s own new HR chief was unable to answer basic questions about the offer in a contentious staff meeting last week, WIRED reported.) In an email to staff Sunday evening, OPM clarified whether the deferred resignation program complied with existing privacy laws. “Yes,” read the answer. The deferred resignation program only uses basic contact information about federal employees, like their name and government address, along with short voluntary email responses. The information is kept in government systems. The Privacy Act applies to all OPM System Records Notices that contain information related to the program.

WIRED reported last week that Musk’s outfit had effectively taken over the Office of Personnel Management, the US government’s human resources department. In this and other efforts, it is employing inexperienced young engineers whose ages range from 19 to 24—many of whom, public records show, are former interns or have been affiliated with Musk-aligned companies.

The Trump administration began a radical campaign last week aimed at inducing members of the federal workforce to leave their jobs ahead of threatened reductions. Musk is the leader of the so called Department of Government Efficiency, a task force that has seized control of several federal agencies and sensitive government systems with apparent clearance from the White House.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Quantico, Va., academy has a wall painted over that states “diversity” among the bureau’s core values. According to an email the FBI’s Office of Integrity and Compliance gave to Mother Jones, the bureau no longer values diversity as one of its core values.

Sources within several federal agencies say pronouns are now being systematically blocked across multiple email clients, after the White House effectively banned federal employees from revealing their personal pronouns in email signatures.

Are you an employee of a government agency impacted by this? Thank you for contacting us, we would like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact Dell Cameron securely at dell.3030 on Signal.

The White House turned WIRED over to the OPM communications director, who told them that the January 29 memo ordered agencies toDisabling all features that prompt users for their pronouns.

WIRED confirmed various automated efforts with employees at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the General Services Administration (GSA), and the US Department of Agriculture.

The Role of Lackeys in Obstruction-Free Email Management and the Trump Administration’s Deferred Resignation Program

If the motion is granted, OPM would be forced to disconnect the server until the assessment is done. The Trump administration will face delays in its plan to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce. An email account linked to the server is being used to gather information about federal workers who are interested in taking a leave of absence pursuant to the president’s “deferred resignation” program.

“Under the law, a temporary restraining order is an extraordinary remedy,” notes National Security Counselors’ executive director, Kel McClanahan. “But this is an extraordinary situation.”

Before issuing a restraining order courts apply the balancing of equities doctrine, which considers both the burdens and costs of the parties. In this case, however, McClanahan argues that the injunction would inflict “no hardship” on the government whatsoever. February 6 is an “arbitrary deadline,” he says, and the administration could simply continue to implement the resignation program “through preexisting channels.”

“[A]t some point after 20 January 2025, OPM allowed unknown individuals to simply bypass its existing systems and security protocols,” Tuesday’s motion claims, “for the stated purpose of being able to communicate directly with those individuals without involving other agencies. In short, the sole purpose of these new systems was expediency.”

A copy of the motion, filed in the DC District Court by National Security Counselors, a Washington-area public-interest law firm, was obtained by WIRED exclusively in advance. WIRED previously reported that Musk had installed a lot of lackeys in OPM’s offices, including individuals with ties to xai and Neuralink.

An attorney representing two federal workers—Jane Does 1 and 2—filed a motion this morning arguing that the server’s continued operation not only violates federal law but is potentially exposing vast quantities of government staffers’ personal information to hostile foreign adversaries through unencrypted email.

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.