Elon Musk’s mission to overhaul the federal government just hit a major roadblock. More than 20 civil service employees, many of them top-tier engineers and data scientists, resigned from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Tuesday, citing serious concerns about how their expertise was being used.
In a joint resignation letter obtained by the Associated Press, the former staffers made it clear: they could no longer stand by as their work was used to dismantle essential government services.
“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution,” the letter read. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”
The group, which included employees with experience at major tech companies like Google and Amazon, originally joined the government to modernize critical systems, everything from Social Security and veterans’ services to disaster relief and student aid. But under Musk’s leadership, they say their work was being weaponized against the very institutions they sought to improve.
The mass resignation is the latest setback for Musk and Donald Trump’s administration, which has been aggressively working to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
