CNN
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As the Trump administration fires thousands of employees across the government, federal workers are the broad access gained by Elon Musk’s “Government Efficiency” team to the agency computer system.
The sudden appearance of DOGE representatives at Washington’s agency and the search for federal employees who appear to be dishonest to the president are worried that they can monitor their emails, texts, or conversations. created a wave of
Some government officials are currently turning off their phones at home. Others have opted for in-person chat at work rather than Microsoft’s team. To prevent potential snooping, I even bought a special Faraday bag designed to block electromagnetic signals. Some people print employee records, including performance reviews, in case they are removed or changed by the federal system.
Their concern is that even the most mundane comments may be taken out of context to portray someone as anti-Trump.
“I carried work phones around the world, anywhere, for hours on weekends, just in case anything was needed. One employee at the General Services Agency (GSA), a government procurement agency, was It says as follows.
CNN has more than a dozen federal employees in more than five federal agencies who have communicated a sense of fear and delusion, not only is it increasingly likely to lose their jobs, but also being monitored without knowledge. We talked to him.
It is unclear how much government practices for monitoring employees have actually changed under the second Trump administration. Many programs that use both software and people detect “insider threats” or unauthorized access to information.
“Doge is carrying out President Trump’s commitment to making the government more responsible, efficient and, most importantly, to restore proper management of the hard-earned dollars of American taxpayers. “A White House official said in an email. When CNN asked whether it controlled policies or practices for monitoring federal employees’ communications, authorities did not respond.
“The people leading this mission at Elon Musk do so as employees of federal law, appropriate security clearance and related agencies, not as external advisors or entities, but as employees of related agencies,” White House said. said the staff at
However, rumours have been ramping up among federal workers that online chats in programs like Microsoft teams are being monitored by more senior officials. And these rumors have already changed their behavior.
“If everyone believes that, is the truth important?” said another federal worker. “Obviously, legally, but from a psychological perspective, if what they want is to scare people, then they might already be out.”
The report by Musk’s Government Efficiency Bureau to the White House Chief of Staff only raised concerns.
The GSA attempted to dispel such rumors last week, releasing a statement that its agents had “no plans to investigate employees.”
For some federal workers, their surveillance suspicions are difficult to shake. “There’s a lasting sense that we’re being monitored,” one employee with the Department of Veterans Affairs told CNN.
As a result, VA employees have stopped using their work computers to view news websites during lunchtime and are even wary of using personal phones in the office when connected to WiFi. . They thought about covering the computer camera so that it wouldn’t be monitored. management.
Asked if they thought they were recorded in the office, a VA employee said: No… So you thought 19-year-old Big Balls had access to information at the State Department? ”
The tech salvation of Elon Musk and his Doge team has also raised concerns at the Department of Education, one employee said there. “The technical glitches we experience are: is this the only one we are paranoid or some kind of evil behaviour?”
Doge has six people in the Department of Education, all federal employees, according to a court filing filed by the Association of Students challenging Doge’s access to undergraduate faculty. Six people have access to departmental IT systems related to the student loan program as part of an audit of waste, fraud and abuse, the court filing said.
Some State Department employees have been notified by their boss that Doge may have “deep scope” in the department system. Employees from multiple departments have received notifications on their mobile phones and said this while they were working: According to screenshots of messages shared with CNN, secure network traffic may be monitored or changed.
CNN requested comment from the State Department.
One Federal employee in Nevada is more cautious about the terms and conditions used in Microsoft team messaging at work. “I try not to say words that may stand out when you’re running a language model to find the word,” they said, referring to artificial intelligence.
At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists no longer get meeting notes in Google documents, an employee told CNN. Instead, their leaders are urging them to use offline programs such as Microsoft Word to post “clean versions” online without any terminology that could cause a meticulous look like “climate change.” Masu.
“People are taking their phones for the first time in 10 years because they don’t have to have online meetings or notes,” the employee told CNN. “We’re that level of delusion.”
Katie Bo Lillis and Jennifer Hansler of CNN contributed to this report.
