U.S. federal workers clamp down on their communications in climate of DOGE-induced fear

Sylvia Thomson · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 11:34 AM EDT | Last Updated: 16 minutes ago

In precocious February furloughed unit astatine the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were invited backmost to their offices successful 15-minute windows to cod their belongings.They walked out, immoderate successful tears, carrying boxes of idiosyncratic items — but galore were besides disquieted astir the idiosyncratic accusation they were leaving down successful the USAID bureau systems. 

The circumstantial interest was implicit the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the bureaucracy-slashing radical created by the Trump administration. No 1 knows precisely what idiosyncratic information the radical has grabbed. 

"The concerns are implicit DOGE's capability, their surveillance," said a staffer connected administrative leave, who walked retired the USAID doors that day. He does not privation to usage his sanction for fearfulness of repercussions.  

Staffers similar him turned to the encrypted Signal app to chat among themselves astir what was happening. Roughly 90 to 95 per cent of his chap employees were laid disconnected pursuing DOGE's dismantling of the agency.

He's successful 7 Signal chats connected a scope of topics from litigation and occupation fairs to however to reconstruct U.S. overseas assistance successful the future. 

"I americium utilized to utilizing it successful closed societies," helium said of Signal.  "And evidently we didn't deliberation that would beryllium the lawsuit present successful the U.S."

People associated with DOGE forcibly entered USAID connected Feb. 1, a Saturday, and sought to entree unit information. The Associated Press reported that the squad entered what's known arsenic a SCIF — a delicate compartmented accusation installation — a country wrong the bureau and perchance accessed delicate information. DOGE did not respond to CBC's questions astir these claims. 

Taylor Williamson has worked connected USAID contracts done a spouse enactment for the past 20 years. He's present laid off.

"When everyone started getting furloughed astatine the extremity of January we each started texting each different to accidental 'Are you OK?" helium said. And past the chats "blew up" connected Signal successful aboriginal February. 

"Because of the power of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg radical are rightly oregon wrongly acrophobic that their information would beryllium shared with the government," helium said.

"Given determination are these tech folks moving astir successful government, determination was an aggravated fear."

WATCH | DOGE claims to person saved $55B by slashing U.S. national workforce:

On Tuesday a national justice determined that efforts by Musk and his squad to adjacent the USAID astir apt violated the constitution "in aggregate ways." And they were ordered to "not disclose extracurricular of USAID immoderate … idiosyncratic accusation oregon accusation contained successful an individual's unit file, information clearance file."

The unsafe portion of each this, says David Karpf, an subordinate prof astatine George Washington University whose enactment focuses connected strategical connection and internet-related strategies, is that DOGE whitethorn person accessed Social Security numbers and different accusation that is expected to beryllium protected. 

"Trump's DOGE squad has repeatedly accessed national information which was antecedently disconnected limits," helium said. 

"It is truthful unprecedented that it is hard to find words for it," helium said, adding that Signal is the lone harmless spot for the national workforce to chat due to the fact that it's not accessible by the government. DOGE tin entree email and different accusation connected enactment devices, helium said.

Personal accusation information amid the melodramatic workforce simplification has go specified a interest that The Washington Post published a communicative successful aboriginal Feb with the header Federal workers: Here's however to fastener down your communications. The nonfiction made the constituent that the likelihood of threats to idiosyncratic information has accrued since the caller medication came successful with its links to tech institution executives specified arsenic Meta's Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Musk. And it highlighted however DOGE is grabbing "vast amounts of data" astir employees from national agencies. 

One of the cardinal recommendations was to usage Signal for texts, due to the fact that an app similar Messenger, for example, is owned by Meta and collects much metadata. Other suggestions included cautiously choosing who you pass with connected specified apps. 

Randy Chester, the vice president representing USAID overseas work officers astatine the American Foreign Service Association says it's simply the "strangest clip successful my full life."

"We don't cognize what DOGE has accessed, and that is the large fear," helium said, adding that he's moved implicit to facial and two-factor recognition connected everything, and he's enactment a clasp connected his idiosyncratic recognition systems, retired of interest that a DOGE idiosyncratic could perchance merchantability his Social Security number. 

Chester said helium understands wherefore radical are utilizing Signal. The American Foreign Services Association advises radical not to usage authorities devices but alternatively idiosyncratic devices instead. 

"The interest is that the authorities would usage info against you to terminate you. Or you could person your information clearance revoked. There are lasting implications with the antithetic levels of  information clearances," helium said. 

The website for the relation has links to a "Virtual Go Bag" stating "everyone successful the Foreign Service knows what a 'go bag' is … But however galore of america person an 'Employment Go Bag.'" This benignant of virtual extortion includes downloading idiosyncratic files disconnected of enactment devices, according to the site, and besides to get idiosyncratic liability security and see putting a frost connected idiosyncratic recognition accusation to forestall it from being utilized to unfastened caller recognition paper accounts. 

Chester hopes the ongoing ineligible enactment against DOGE and Musk volition supply immoderate clarity. 

"I anticipation DOGE volition beryllium called to attest truthful we tin find retired what information they person collected, wherefore they took it and wherefore they needed it," helium said. 

In the meantime, the phones of the national workforce successful Washington are lighting up with encrypted apps and chats arsenic radical cautiously stock accusation arsenic they effort to fig retired their futures.