Engineers, data scientists, product managers quit en masse from DOGE

More than 20 civil service employees have resigned from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to "dismantle critical public services."

"We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations," the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter on Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

"However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments."

The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump's administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.

The mass resignation of engineers, data scientists and product managers is a temporary setback for Musk and the Republican president's tech-driven purge of the federal workforce.

It comes amid a flurry of court challenges that have sought to stall, stop or unwind their efforts to fire or coerce thousands of government workers out of jobs.

The staffers who resigned worked for what was once known as the United States Digital Service, an office established during president Barack Obama's administration after the botched rollout of Healthcare.gov, the web portal that millions of Americans use to sign up for insurance plans through the Democrat’'s signature health care law.

All had previously held senior roles at such tech companies as Google and Amazon and wrote in their resignation letter that they joined the government out of a sense of duty to public service.

Interviews with DOGE officers

The day after Trump's inauguration, the staffers wrote, they were called into a series of interviews that foreshadowed the secretive work of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

According to the staffers, people wearing White House visitors' badges, some of whom would not give their names, grilled the nonpartisan employees about their qualifications and politics.

Some made statements that indicated they had a limited technical understanding.

Many were young and seemed guided by ideology and fandom of Musk — not improving government technology.

"Several of these interviewers refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalty, attempted to pit colleagues against each other, and demonstrated limited technical ability," the staffers wrote in their letter.

"This process created significant security risks."

Earlier this month, about 40 staffers in the office were laid off.

The firings dealt a devastating blow to the government's ability to administer and safeguard its own technological footprint, they wrote.

"These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernise Social Security, veterans' services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services," the resignation letter states.

"Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American's data less safe."

Those who remained, about 65 staffers, were integrated into DOGE's government-slashing effort.

About a third of them quit on Tuesday en masse.

"We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardise Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services," they wrote.

"We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimise DOGE's actions."