More from Trump’s first 100 days: all the news affecting the tech industry
Two days after DOGE head Elon Musk posted “CFPB RIP” on X, employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters in Washington, DC were told via email today to work remotely next week, as the office will be closed, reports Business Insider.
That’s after an email last night from OMB director Russell Vought, who Trump had just made CFPB Acting Director, stopped most agency work, including “supervisory activities that ensure companies are complying with the law,” the outlet writes.
Elon Musk sent a somewhat cryptic message on X hours after Wired reported that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where DOGE staffers were set to gain read-only access to its systems. The CFPB has long been a Republican target so it’s unsurprising it’s been on the chopping block for DOGE along with the US Agency for International Development and Department of Education.
Firings, unfirings, forks, and lawsuits.
That includes at least 168 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who worked in its Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. The Trump administration is following a play out of Project 2025, which calls for “eliminating” the office.
Across the federal government, Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are targeting programs and employees that have worked to make initiatives more inclusive of communities of color and other groups that face disproportionate health and environmental risks.
[washingtonpost.com]
A report from Wired looks at attempts to plug AI technology into the General Services Administration (along with other departments). According to one source, DOGE’s push is for using AI tools “to analyze huge swaths of contract and procurement data” with a custom GSAi chatbot.
It also notes other shifting AI approaches, with coding assistant Cursor reportedly approved then retracted, and a new push to use Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot.
CNN reports on a former SpaceX intern being set up in the Energy Department’s systems by Chris Wright:
Members of the general counsel and chief information offices “said this is a bad idea” because [Luke] Farritor hadn’t had a standard background investigation needed to access the department’s system, one of the people told CNN. “He’s not cleared to be in DOE, on our systems. None of those things have been done.”
Per Meta spokesperson Andy Stone: “Mark Zuckerberg was at the White House today to discuss how Meta can help the administration defend and advance American tech leadership abroad.”
FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill has released dozens of documents that he says show how banks were “almost universally met with resistance” when making crypto-related requests. He added that the FDIC’s response “sent the message to banks that it would be extraordinarily difficult — if not impossible — to move forward” in the crypto space.
Said a law professor quoted by The Washington Post in an article about government officials raising internal legal objections to the actions of Elon Musk’s DOGE team. These messages have surfaced from departments like USAID, the Treasury, GSA, OPM, and others:
“I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States and the Commission serves the people of the United States,” an administrative judge at the agency wrote to EEOC acting chair Andrea R. Lucas, in a previously unreported message. “If you want to continue following the illegal and unethical orders of our president and the unelected leader of ‘doge’ that’s on you.”
Contrary to earlier reports, Wired (in a story since confirmed by other reporters) says that a member of Elon Musk’s pseudo-department has:
“the ability not just to read but to write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the US government: The Payment Automation Manager (PAM) and Secure Payment System (SPS) at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS). Housed on a top-secret mainframe, these systems control, on a granular level, government payments that in their totality amount to more than a fifth of the US economy.”
In other words, a budget passed by democratically elected US lawmakers could — reportedly, in theory — be overruled by a Big Tech lackey.
Federal employees face a flood of executive orders, termination notices, and a breakdown in communication.
Wired reports that an Elon Musk ally outlined an “AI-first strategy” to General Services Administration workers on Monday. “Throughout the meeting, [Thomas] Shedd shared his vision for a GSA that operates like a ‘startup software company,’ automating different internal tasks and centralizing data from across the federal government,” according to Wired.
Elon Musk, running amok in American government, is attempting to dismantle USAID, taking an interest in federal real estate, and “reveling in the trappings of the opulent Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.” His goons are also attempting to access Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services systems.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr said he expects CBS News to submit a transcript of a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris by the end of the day, writes The Wrap.
This submission is related to a complaint from rightwing group Center for American Rights over the episode’s editing. The Wrap notes that former FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel had previously dismissed the filing, accusing the group of “seeking to weaponize” the regulator.
