Elon Musk Lackeys Have Taken Over the Office of Personnel Management

[demmiblue]

Source: Wired

Centibillionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of the former US Digital Service—now the United States DOGE Service (USDS)—has been widely publicized and sanctioned by one of President Donald Trump’s many executive orders. But WIRED reporting shows that Musk’s influence extends even further, and into an even more consequential government agency.

Sources within the federal government tell WIRED that the highest ranks of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)—essentially the human resources function for the entire federal government—are now controlled by people with connections to Musk and to the tech industry. Among them is a person who, according to an online resume, was set to start college last fall.

Scott Kupor, a managing partner at the powerful investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, stands as Trump’s nominee to run OPM. But already in place, according to sources, are a variety of people who seem ready to carry out Musk’s mission of cutting staff and disrupting the government.

Amanda Scales is, as has been reported, the new chief of staff at OPM. She formerly worked in talent for xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, according to her LinkedIn. Before that, she was part of the talent and operations team at Human Capital, a venture firm with investments in the defense tech startup Anduril and the political betting platform Kalshi; before that, she worked for years at Uber. Her placement in this key role, experts believe, seems part of a broader pattern of the traditionally apolitical OPM being converted to use as a political tool.

Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-lackeys-office-personnel-management-opm-neuralink-x-boring-stalin/

[montanacowboy]

1. Just fucking great

I am a retired Federal employee and those fuckers are going to take our pensions and health care away

Something MUST be done to stop this insanity

[orangecrush]

2. This should have a hundred recs by now

Extremely important and dangerous.

[2naSalit]

3. This is a five alarm fire...

And it had better be attended to immediately.

[Solly Mack]

4. This is not a government of/by/for the people. It simply isn't.

[2naSalit]

5. apolitical OPM being converted to use as a political tool...

I never doubted that they would turn everything into political tools.

[stillspkg]

6. Call it In

This is usurping the government!

Without any oversight from Congress and no accountability to congress, Elon Musk has the freedom to hire a staff of the same.

What the bloody hell!!

[AdamGG]

7. All existing white house national security staff

Have been sent detailed questionnaires asking them to disclose who they voted for any, political donations they have made, and their social media habits.

They're purging anyone who isn't a good Nazi. Is this even legal?

https://whyy.org/articles/donald-trump-team-questioning-civil-servants-national-security-council/

[OrwellwasRight]

8. Some important things to know

The National Security Council, unlike the National Economic Council, is largely staffed (not led, but staffed) by civil servants temporarily loaned (“detailed”) to the White House from the State Department and DOD but also from Commerce and elsewhere.

As Civil Servants, they ought to be entitled to keep their personal politics private as the U.S. does not work on the spoils system. Even FBI background checks do not ask who you voted for. That said, the White House generally has a right to pick who works there because they do have a political agenda and are entitled to advance it. To my knowledge this has never extended to interrogating civil service staff on temporary detail to the White House.

I imagine, if challenged, the White House would explain that they want to ensure the detailees would do as they’re told. Given that folks are civil servants and it is indeed their job to perform as directed (unless given an illegal or unethical directive), this seems unnecessary and overly intrusive. I can only imagine whistleblowers hotlines are being called and union reps contacted.

I can also imagine that the current judiciary would give its approval to this behavior, but one can hope.

For additional info, here is an excerpt of a memo investigating political hiring at the DOJ under Bush II:

In addition to Department policies, the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) prohibits the Department from discriminating in hiring for career positions based on political affiliation. For example, the CSRA states that federal agencies must adopt hiring practices for career employees in which

selection and advancement should be determined solely on the basis of relative ability, knowledge, and skills, after fair and open competition which assures that all receive equal opportunity.

5 U.S.C. § 2301(b).

Moreover, the CRSA sets forth a series of merit system principles by which federal agencies are to manage personnel decisions. One principle directly addresses employment discrimination:

All employees and applicants for employment should receive fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of personnel management without regard to political affiliation, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or handicapping condition, and with proper regard for their privacy and constitutional rights.

5 U.S.C. § 2301(b)(2) (emphasis added).

You can read the full memo here:

https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0806/report.htm

Someone else may have more specific info than these generalities, but my suspicion is that you are right to be horrified by this.