By Raphael Satter, Reuters
Leader of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk wears a shirt that says "Tech Support" at the White House in Washington, DC. (File photo) Photo: Jim Watson / AFP
The Trump administration has pulled the plug on a team of tech-savvy civil servants that helped to build the Internal Revenue Service's free tax-filing service and revamp websites across the US government, a spokesperson for the General Service Administration said on Saturday (local time).
GSA's director of technology transformation services Thomas Shedd notified employees of a digital service team known as 18F that their jobs had been terminated as they had been identified as "non-critical."
Roughly 90 18F employees were immediately locked out of their devices.
The GSA said the action had been taken in support of a number of executive orders, including the "Implementing the President's Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative," dated 11 February.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency team, earlier this month responded to a post on X that called 18F a "far-left government-wide computer office" by saying the group has been "deleted."
That group has been deleted https://t.co/TICeriaLlA
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
First launched in 2014 under former president Barack Obama, the 18F team was housed within GSA and helped federal agencies improve their digital services.
It was tasked with improving federal website accessibility, modernising technology, enhancing data access, and making the government's customer service experience more user-friendly.
The IRS's free direct-file tax website is currently still online.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that officials from Musk's team expressed interest in using personal tax records to check federal benefits payments for fraud.
The New York Times and Post reported on Friday that the Homeland Security Department has asked the IRS to disclose the home addresses of about 700,000 undocumented immigrants it is seeking to deport.
The newspapers said the IRS has so far denied the department's attempts to verify addresses.
-Reuters
