Federal Employees With Careers On The Line Reveal 'Anxiety-Provoking' Meetings With Musk's Young DOGE Staffers

General Service Administration (GSA) employees are detailing the effort by employees of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, to determine who is fitting to continue in their post, describing interviews as "anxiety-provoking" and potentially career-ending.

Different officials told POLITICO that many feel like every word they say could be grounds for dismissal, and that matters are being handled in a Silicon Valley-way. A supervisor told the outlet that employees can get an impromptu calendar invite, "often scheduled over existing client meetings."

Another employee said he had a 15-minute interview with a DOGE employee where his experience on moving projects through the federal government was mostly overlooked as "people are trying to hype their technical skills."

The recount is illustrative of the employees' mindset, fearing that their jobs could be on the line based on those brief interactions. The Trump administration and GSA, currently overseen by software entrepreneur Stephen Ehikan, want to slash its budget in half.

The agency provides federal counterparts with real estate management, policy standardization and technical services. Employees said the line of questioning suggested DOGE employees were seeking to get rid of employees who lacked technical skills or added bureaucratic layers to the structure.

The events unfolding at GSA are not isolated. A federal employee who requested anonymity said he and his colleagues had to "justify their existence" in "15-minute interviews" with "college freshers." The employee added that he was "nervous of retaliation" before relaying his agency's experience with Musk and DOGE employees during a town hall event in Virginia.

"In the last week, we had Elon Musk in our building and after he visited the building, he called for a 50% cut to the entire agency," the man stated. "My colleagues are getting 15-minute one-on-one check ins with 19-, 20- and 21-year-old college graduates, asking to justify their existence."

He continued by saying supervisors, all of whom were ordered to withhold information from employees, must now fill out justification forms for staff members. The bottom 30% of performers will be laid off.