Follow an edict of the White House effectively prohibiting federal employees The disclosure of their personal pronouns in email signatures, sources in several federal agencies say that pronouns are now Systemically blocked On several messaging customers and other software.
Wired has confirmed various automated efforts with employees of the American Agency for International Development (USAID), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the General Services Administration (GSA), the American Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Employees spoke to Wired on condition of anonymity, citing fears of reprisals.
Several agency directors sent emails during the weekend by telling the staff that, due to the decree of President Donald Trump, their offices would remove the capacity of pronoun 365. The employees would also need to withdraw pronoun of their email signatures in order to comply with the directive.
A staff member of the USAID said that the official deactivation of his ability to list the pronouns occurred last week, in response to executive decrees defining the sexes issued by President Trump on his first day in power . A member of GSA staff says the pronouns have been wiped out employee email signatures after hours on Friday and were no longer visible in Slack, the work messaging application. At the CDC, there was a section for employees to share their pronouns on their team profiles, another work application. This field no longer exists.
Reached to comment, the White House has transferred wired to the communications director of the OPM McLaurine Pinover, who underlined January 29 Agency command to deactivate all the features “which invite users to their pronouns”.
Do you have a tip?
Are you a current or former employee with a government agency affected by this? We would like to hear from you. Using a phone or a working computer, contact Dell Cameron safely at Dell.3030 on the signal.
The ban on personal pronouns follows radical efforts from the White House to eliminate programs that encourage diversity and social justice within the federal government, as well as other references to “diversity, equity and inclusion In the speech of federal employees.
In a striking example of action policy, an image surface last week From a wall painted in quantico, virginia, the Academy of the Federal Office of the Inquiry, due to the “diversity” among the fundamental values ​​of the office. (According to an email from the FBI integrity and compliance office obtained by Mother JonesThe office no longer counts “diversity” among its fundamental values.)
The Trump administration began a radical campaign last week aimed at encouraging members of the federal workforce to leave their jobs before threatened discounts. The effort is led by Elon Musk, head of the so-called Ministry of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), a working group which has effectively took control of several federal agencies and sensitive government systems with an apparent clearance of the White House .
Wired reported last week that Musk’s outfit actually resumed the Personnel management officeThe Human Resources Department of the United States Government. In this effort and in others, he uses inexperienced young engineers whose age varies from 19 to 24 years – many, according to public archives, are former trainees or have been affiliated with companies aligned with Musc.
OPM sent by e-mail to federal workers January 28 with a “deferred resignation offer”, provoking generalized confusion among federal workers. (The new Doge’s HR chief could not answer basic questions about the offer at a controversial staff meeting last week, Wired reported.) In an e-mail to the staff on Sunday evening, OPM said if the delayed resignation program was in accordance with existing confidentiality laws. “Yes”, read the answer. “The delayed resignation program only uses basic contact details on federal employees, such as the government’s name and address, as well as short responses by volunteer email. Information is stored on government systems. Insofar as the confidentiality law applies, all the information relevant to the program is covered by the opinions of existing registration of the OPM system. »»
Multiple agency sources said thread last week That several Musk lieutenants had access to key computer systems controlled by the GSA, an independent agency charged by the Congress to supervise federal buildings and provide equipment, supplies and computer support through the government.
Andrew Couts, Makena Kelly, Leah Feiger and Zoë Schiffer contributed the reports.
