Marj Halperin: A mass exodus from civil service would be disastrous for our communities
Civil service is another term for “professional workforce” and we want this in government, right? And yet, as I write this, our government is being taken over by the opposite kind of worker.
The uncredentialed Elon Musk is running a massive government operation. His team of similarly-unaccredited private-sector tech wonks have taken control of the vast Treasury database of our personal information as well as the federal payment database. In an unprecedented misappropriation of authority, they are deciding who gets federal payments for work authorized by Congress. And, they are reportedly shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development that was mandated by a 1961 congressional act. This abruptly halts humanitarian aid and international disaster assistance to tens of millions around the world, all considered critical to national and global security, according to Google search highlights from the agency’s website, which is now shut down.
Although Donald Trump won his first term, in part, by complaining about Hillary Clinton using a private server for certain emails, Musk and his team have gained access to this database of our Social Security numbers, bank information and other highly sensitive data. It’s perhaps the most massive data breach in our country’s history. Then they locked legitimate employees out of federal computers. When actual government employees tried to stop this raid on confidential data, Musk fired them. With no legal standing, his team sent a letter pushing all federal workers to resign, and are now sending layoff notices to targeted civil service workers across the federal government.
Overriding official acts of Congress could be illegal, but it’s also bad business.
