Elon Musk’s initiative, summoned by Donald Trump to be “more aggressive” in his mission to slash in public spending and reduce the number of civil servants, is increasingly disputed. The owner of X, boss of Tesla and SpaceX, enjoined federal officials on Saturday to respond to an email aimed at justifying the reality of their work. This message, entitled “What did you do last week?”, Was sent by the Human Resources Service of the Federal Administration, the OPM, to the employees concerned. The OPM required an answer describing five tasks accomplished in the previous week.
Initially, the richest man on the planet indicated that “the lack of response” to this email before midnight on Monday evening would be considered a “resignation”. Monday evening, before the deadline, Elon Musk said, however, give “a new chance” to the American federal officials to justify their professional activity under penalty of being sent back. Thousands of administration employees during trials have already been dismissed. Incitted to resign in exchange for a payment maintained until the end of September, some 75,000 civil servants also agreed to leave their posts, according to American media.
Elon Musk’s approach, on the initiative of all the actions of the Department of Government Effectiveness, the DOGE, while not officially leading this commission, according to the White House, accentuated the confusion within a state apparatus already under pressure. Several services, including some led by faithful from Donald Trump, advised civil servants not to respond to this email, at least immediately. According to The New York Times,, It is the FBI, the American federal police, but also the State Department or even national intelligence.
The agents working under threatened coverage?
THE American media CNN Indicates that the efforts of the Trump administration to reduce workforce and audit expenditure of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and even other agencies, threaten to jeopardize certain elements related to national security. According to sources close to the file interviewed by the information chain, the CIA is currently conducting an official survey in order to assess the potential damage caused by an unsecified email sent to the White House in early February. This email identified certain officers – with a view to their dismissal – by their first name and the initials of their name. It has listed all new recruits working in the agency for two years or less through an unused information messaging server. The list included CIA agents who were preparing to operate under cover abroad.
According to CNN, the CIA is currently studying the possibility of retaining or reassuring some of the employees mentioned in this email addressed to the White House, which were previously planned for secret deployments in sensitive places abroad. The risk that their identity has been exposed to hackers working for foreign governments is indeed too high. Certain positions of the American embassy occupied by CIA agents under cover are now likely to be revealed, according to sources interviewed by our American colleagues.
Access to classified information
Some CIA officials also fear that the layoffs envisaged within the intelligence agency can create a group of former dissatisfied employees. These, financially vulnerable or resentful, could then transmit what they know to a foreign intelligence service, or even be recruited by a country. The idea that a person returned from the CIA, even for valid reasons, can transmit what they know to a foreign government is not new, however. The Ministry of Justice has charged several former military and intelligence officials in recent years for providing American information to China.
The CIA has already dismissed more than 20 agents for their work on diversity issues, reports CNN, many of whom dispute their dismissal before the courts. The government has declared in court documents that it still envisaged additional cuts in order to comply with the order of Donald Trump to end any work on diversity throughout the federal government. Unlike most other federal dismissed employees, these people have had access to classified information on the operations and operation of the agency. What give cold sweats to national security players …