Latest news with #ThomasShedd
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
General Services Administration cuts tech unit
The General Services Administration cleaved one of its technology units Saturday morning as part of a Trump administration directive to cull the federal workforce and reduce government spending. The agency announced the cut to the 18F office — which employs researchers, website designers and product managers — on Saturday at around 1 a.m., according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO. The cuts affected about 70 product and account managers; procurement specialists; user interface engineers; researchers; and front-end, content and service designers, said a GSA manager who, like other government workers in this story, spoke anonymously to avoid retribution. About two dozen more 18F employees were slashed in February when the agency cut probationary staffers. The 18F department was responsible for building key government services like the central login system for programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. This work touches many agencies, which means cuts here could have a ripple effect across the government. 'This decision was made with explicit direction from the top levels of leadership within both the Administration and GSA,' Thomas Shedd, a one-time Tesla employee who is now the director of the Technology Transformation Services subagency at GSA, wrote in the memo. 'There are no other TTS programs impacted at this time, however we anticipate more change in the future.' These cuts, which were done at the bidding of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, are part of President Donald Trump's crusade to shrink the federal government and cut the budget. GSA's acting administrator Stephen Ehikian, a software entrepreneur, has said that the agency aims to slash its budget by eliminating contracts and personnel, according to memos POLITICO obtained. It comes during a particularly tumultuous night for federal workers, who received a second order from the federal government to demonstrate their productivity. Trump and Musk have taunted the workforce with threats of termination if they do not respond, though it's unclear if this is legally enforceable. These cuts underscore a culture shift in the federal government from a bulkier, bureaucratic one to a Silicon Valley hack-and-slash ethos incompatible with the agency's work, GSA staffers previously told POLITICO. 'We're not talking about saving money here. We're talking about saving people's lives and providing services people cannot go without,' a GSA data scientist said then.
Politico
01-03-2025
- Business
- Politico
General Services Administration cuts tech unit
The General Services Administration cleaved one of its technology units Saturday morning as part of a Trump administration directive to cull the federal workforce and reduce government spending. The agency announced the cut to the 18F office — which employs researchers, website designers and product managers — on Saturday at around 1 a.m., according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO. The cuts affected about 70 product and account managers; procurement specialists; user interface engineers; researchers; and front-end, content and service designers, said a GSA manager who, like other government workers in this story, spoke anonymously to avoid retribution. About two dozen more 18F employees were slashed in February when the agency cut probationary staffers. The 18F department was responsible for building key government services like the central login system for programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. This work touches many agencies, which means cuts here could have a ripple effect across the government. 'This decision was made with explicit direction from the top levels of leadership within both the Administration and GSA,' Thomas Shedd, a one-time Tesla employee who is now the director of the Technology Transformation Services subagency at GSA, wrote in the memo. 'There are no other TTS programs impacted at this time, however we anticipate more change in the future.' These cuts, which were done at the bidding of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, are part of President Donald Trump's crusade to shrink the federal government and cut the budget. GSA's acting administrator Stephen Ehikian, a software entrepreneur, has said that the agency aims to slash its budget by eliminating contracts and personnel, according to memos POLITICO obtained. It comes during a particularly tumultuous night for federal workers, who received a second order from the federal government to demonstrate their productivity. Trump and Musk have taunted the workforce with threats of termination if they do not respond, though it's unclear if this is legally enforceable. These cuts underscore a culture shift in the federal government from a bulkier, bureaucratic one to a Silicon Valley hack-and-slash ethos incompatible with the agency's work, GSA staffers previously told POLITICO. 'We're not talking about saving money here. We're talking about saving people's lives and providing services people cannot go without,' a GSA data scientist said then.
Washington Post
18-02-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
GSA engineering lead resigns over DOGE ally's request for access
The lead engineer for a government text messaging service resigned Tuesday over a U.S. DOGE Service ally's request for access to sensitive data, including personal identifying information, according to two people familiar with the matter. Steven Reilly, the engineering lead for left the Technology Transformation Services arm of the General Services Administration after the branch's new director, Thomas Shedd, sought administrative access to all components of the site, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues. Shedd is an eight-year Tesla alumnus who now runs the part of the GSA that hosts technologists who are deployed to provide access to a wide variety of government services, a unit he has called 'Swiss army knives.'
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal Workers Spill on Their ‘Anxiety Provoking' DOGE Interviews
Federal workers interviewed by Elon Musk's foot soldiers at the Department of Government Efficiency said the brief conversations have sparked anxiety and fear for their jobs. Three staffers at the General Services Administration who spoke anonymously to Politico said some of the interviews were held the same day they were scheduled and often overlapped with client meetings already on the calendar. Workers received a calendar invite from a Gmail account 'with almost no notice,' and the interviews were framed as assessments of the team's strengths and weaknesses. 'But the tenor of it clearly also suggests it has to do with ranking people and figuring out who to cut, especially since it started with probationers,' said a GSA supervisor whose staff were recently interviewed by a DOGE associate. 'The interviews are anxiety provoking.' The DOGE interviewer reportedly identified himself as an 'adviser' to Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer named director of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services last month. One employee said their interview only lasted 15 minutes and mostly skimmed over their project management experience, which is key to fulfilling the GSA's mandate of centralizing procurement for the federal government. 'Most people are trying to hype their technical skills,' the employee said. 'They don't think DOGE people respect the softer 'moving complex projects through government bureaucracy' types of skills.' The DOGE interviewer did not provide any guidance on next steps, the workers said. One-on-one interviews are reportedly still ongoing. This has made GSA employees fear for their jobs and the possible impact of staff cuts on the public. The agency operates the central login portal for services like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. 'We're not talking about saving money here. We're talking about saving people's lives and providing services people cannot go without,' said a data scientist interviewed by DOGE. GSA and DOGE are developing an AI chatbot aimed at increasing worker productivity, a supervisor familiar with the talks told Politico. DOGE has reportedly proposed other AI tools to spot redundancies in contracts and streamline processes. Musk has been leading the Trump administration's charge to shrink the size of the federal workforce and pare down government spending by seizing control of multiple agencies. Though many of the administration's efforts to overhaul the government have been hit by lawsuits, a judge on Wednesday reinstated a controversial buyout scheme for federal workers.
