In another round of federal downsizing courtesy of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), dozens of workers at the Technology Transformation Services (TTS) division were fired Wednesday.
Citing unnamed sources, WIRED reports that lay offs at the TTS—which is part of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)—seemed to mainly target staffers that were on a short-term or probationary period. Additionally, employees that were part of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program, an effort that recruits private sector technologists to work in government, were also laid off.
Another government fellowship, the U.S. Digital Corps, was also reportedly targeted with around 50 of its 70 members fired, according to WIRED’s sources.
Managers at TTS seemingly met with staffers prior to their termination and gave them an opportunity to select the deferred resignation offer proposed by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management last month.
According to one TTS employee, the meetings were “coercive for sure.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for GSA told The Daily Beast: “From the beginning of this administration, GSA‘s leadership has been committed to supporting the administration’s initiatives to right size the federal workforce. GSA has taken immediate action to fully implement all current executive orders and is committed to taking action to implement any new executive orders.
“Like all agencies, GSA has been working to meet OPM [Office of Personnel Management] memo requirements as it relates to probationary periods. GSA has been and remains committed to ensuring a respectful and dignified process for our agency personnel during this transformation,” it continued.
While the exact number of terminations are still unclear, sources tell WIRED that over 70 employees could be laid off and are expected to receive their formal termination emails late Wednesday evening. They add that their last day is anticipated to be on March 7.
The TTS is an agency that streamlines government services and makes digital access to these services more accessible for both federal employees and everyday users.
While Musk has been poking around several federal agencies, the TTS is of particular use to the new administration’s hope to implement artificial intelligence across government. One of Musk’s former Tesla engineers, Thomas Shedd, has reportedly been tapped to lead a group of government coders at TTS where he’s already disclosed how AI will be fused into the agency.
In a leaked audio recording published by 404 Media on Feb. 4, Shedd discussed AI’s future in TTS and also floated a plan to alter certain TTS systems, at the potential expense of employees’ personal data, to “further identify individuals and detect and prevent fraud.”
Despite being alerted by staffers present at the meeting that one of his suggested plans may be “illegal,” Shedd insisted, “If we hit a roadblock, then we hit a roadblock…But we still should push forward and see what we can do.”
