The main website for USAID went offline this weekend and thousands of staffers may have lost access to their email accounts amid rumors that the Trump administration intends to eliminate the agency. The website went dark after staffers associated with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency gained access to the domain and then blocked USAID employees, a person familiar with the matter told FedScoop. The source said around 2,000 email accounts associated with USAID workers have since been deactivated.  USAID did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. The news follows a massive and sudden pause on American international aid that’s shaken global development groups charged with disbursing critical and life-saving resources. 

An all-staff email distribution list at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was bombarded with crude emails last Thursday night, prompting a review by its top IT official. The emails included an “Important Weather Alert” about a “99% chance of shit showers” over the next four years, a subscription confirmation for Scientology Today, and crude and inflammatory messages critical of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Some of those emails were obtained by FedScoop and others were posted online to X and Reddit. The incident has sparked a review by NOAA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, according to an email shared by a spokesperson for the weather and climate agency. 

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USAID website goes dark, staff emails deactivated amid DOGE takeover; NOAA inboxes spammed with crude Trump jokes, Scientology subscription

Customs and Border Protection has issued internal paperwork to authorize an evaluation of Starlink, the satellite internet service provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, according to documents identified by FedScoop and a spokesperson for the agency. CBP has created a privacy threshold analysis — an internal document used to analyze potential privacy risks associated with a new technology and whether a privacy impact assessment is necessary — for Starlink internet, a step from agency officials that indicates that the SpaceX service is under serious consideration. It also continues a trend of federal agencies expressing interest in working with one of Musk’s companies as the richest man in the world further embeds himself within the Trump administration and leads efforts to cut federal programs and shrink the federal workforce.

Newly installed Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell on Thursday issued a memo calling for all Defense Department components to scrub any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) content from their websites and social media platforms. By March 5 — next Wednesday — DOD components must take down all “news and feature articles, photos, and videos that promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)” from the web, according to the directive, calling the effort a “digital content refresh.” That media must be archived and retained following Pentagon records management policies, states the memo from Parnell, the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs.

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Customs and Border Protection is exploring use of Elon Musk’s Starlink; DOD leadership orders components to scrub DEI content across websites, social media

The General Services Administration has eliminated its 18F program, an internal team of tech consultants and engineers that develops open-source tools to improve digital services across the federal government. The announcement, which came over the weekend, is the latest in the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to slash the federal workforce. The move was foreshadowed weeks ago when Elon Musk, who’s become become the figurehead for the Trump administration’s slashing of government programs and the federal workforce, tweeted that the decade-old program had been “deleted.”  Early Saturday morning, Thomas Shedd — a mechanical engineer and former Tesla employee recently appointed as the director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services, which houses 18F — announced the program had been eliminated as part of the ongoing reduction-in-force effort, according to an email viewed by FedScoop. A GSA spokesperson also confirmed the terminations to FedScoop on Saturday, writing in an email that members of the 18F office were notified that they had been identified as part of GSA’s Reduction in Force and reorganization plan and were being separated from federal service.

The top-10 highest-paid consulting firms contracting with the federal government are set to make “$65 billion in fees” in 2025 and beyond, the General Services Administration says. But according to the agency’s acting leader, that “needs to, and must, change.” GSA acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian issued last week a memo, obtained by FedScoop, calling for the termination of contracts with those top-contracted consultants: Deloitte Consulting LLP, Accenture Federal Services LLC, General Dynamics IT, Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, Guidehouse, Hill Mission Technologies Corp., Science Applications International Corp., CGI Federal and IBM. Ehikian wrote in the memo dated Feb. 26 sent to senior procurement officers: “Consistent with the goals and directives of the Trump administration to eliminate waste, reduce spending, and increase efficiency, the U.S. General Services Administration has taken the first steps in a Government-wide initiative to eliminate non-essential consulting contracts.” By March 7, agencies are asked to provide a list of contracts with the 10 firms that they intend to terminate as well as those they will maintain. 

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18F shutters, leaving agencies without a key partner in digital transformation;  GSA tells agencies to terminate contracts with top-10 consulting firms

Weeks after being named the chief information security officer for the Defense Department, Katie Arrington was announced Monday as the Pentagon’s official “Performing the Duties of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer.” The DOD Office of the CIO announced the move by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to place Arrington as the acting CIO in a post on LinkedIn. The post also confirmed that Leslie Beavers, who had been acting CIO since John Sherman left the role last June, will return to her primary role as principal deputy CIO. A defense official confirmed Arrington started in the role Monday.

An organization that’s filed multiple legal challenges against the Trump administration is focusing its attention on the potential use of artificial intelligence in personnel decisions. Democracy Forward, a social welfare organization, said Monday it “launched a public records investigation” into the administration’s AI use, including filing requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a written statement that the American people deserve to know what is going on — including if and how artificial intelligence is being used to reshape the departments and agencies people rely on daily. The organization’s requests come after reporting by NBC that Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency planned to use AI to review employee responses to the Office of Personnel Management’s “five bullets” email.

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Katie Arrington named acting DOD CIO;  Is DOGE using AI? A legal nonprofit wants to know

Since the Trump administration took office Jan. 20, federal technology has become an essential element in the national news cycle. Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have burrowed within agencies to gain access to key federal IT systems as part of their work to drive efficiency and cut waste and abuse. And as part of that, the Trump administration has fired huge swaths of the federal workforce. For the FedScoop news team, this has meant some major changes to the way they cover and deliver the news to the federal IT community. On this episode, the team gets together for a conversation about how they’re approaching this new normal, the stories they’re following, what’s ahead and how readers can get in touch to share their stories.

The Office of Personnel Management said in a Tuesday revision to existing guidance that it’s not instructing other federal agencies to take personnel actions with respect to probationary employees. “Please note that, by this memorandum, OPM is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees,” the new language in the revised memo reads. “Agencies have ultimate decisionmaking authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.” The update follows a decision last week from a federal judge in San Francisco granting temporary, limited relief to pause and rescind those firings at several agencies. In making that ruling, U.S. District Judge William Alsup found that OPM’s original Jan. 20 memo on federal probationary workers and its other related efforts likely unlawfully directed the firing of those agency workers. OPM “does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees within another agency,” Alsup said during a hearing Feb. 27.

As Salt Typhoon and other hacking groups continue targeting U.S. telecoms, a bipartisan bill that cleared a key House panel Tuesday aims to formalize a more cyber-focused role for the federal agency focused on those wireless networks. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act would establish an Office of Policy Development and Cybersecurity within the Commerce Department’s NTIA under legislation from Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Jennifer McClellan, D-Va. The bill, which advanced out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was passed by the chamber last year but stalled out in the Senate. The NTIA advises the president on telecommunications and information policy issues, with a specific focus on the expansion of broadband internet and spectrum. Obernolte, who  chairs the House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee on research and technology, said the bill “addresses a critical gap” by formalizing NTIA’s cybersecurity role to better “safeguard our communication networks.”

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The FedScoop team shares insights on federal IT news coverage under Trump 2.0

Recent research by the nonprofit U.S. Digital Response and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers examined what vendors don’t like about states’ request for proposal documents. The work was dead simple, as was the solution they proposed: Just put a cover sheet on your RFPs. Waldo Jaquith, a government delivery manager with USDR, joins StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast to explain the findings and why he thinks this one simple change could not only save vendors time, but improve the quality of responses that states get when they’re making purchases.

This week’s top stories:

In a letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Norm last week, 21 Republican secretaries of state asked for improvements to her department’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program, so they can more easily detect noncitizens who are voting in elections.

According to a recent report published by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, state and local governments need to adopt a more “whole-of-state” approach to cybersecurity, involving all levels of government in policy and strategic planning in order to better protect critical infrastructure.

In recognition of the growing threats posed by artificial intelligence, a new security advisory committee in Arizona has published its first recommendations, including one to create an AI elections lab that can fine tune election-specific AI models for use by election offices. 
New episodes of StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast are posted each Wednesday.
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One really simple way to improve state RFPs

The NSA’s former top cybersecurity official told Congress on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s attempts to mass fire probationary federal employees will be “devastating” for U.S. cybersecurity operations. In testimony to the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Rob Joyce, the former NSA cybersecurity director who retired from government service last year, warned lawmakers that countering Chinese hacking campaigns against critical infrastructure will require top-level cybersecurity talent at the NSA and other government agencies. Joyce said that part of that is having expertise and capacity in the government, raising “grave concerns that the aggressive threats to cut U.S. government probationary employees will have a devastating impact on the cybersecurity and our national security.” Joyce, who spent 34 years at the NSA, emphasized how important those employees are in sustaining an aggressive stance against China in cyberspace.

A federal appeals body within the executive branch issued an order Wednesday to temporarily reinstate thousands of fired probationary workers in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in what advocates hailed as an important win for fired employees. The decision from the Merit Systems Protection Board, a quasi-judicial body within the government, grants a Friday request from the Office of Special Council, an independent government investigator, to stay the termination of an unnamed former employee and over 5,000 others who were similarly situated. The decision from MSPB also comes on the heels of another win for fired probationary workers in federal district court in San Francisco. U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted temporary, limited relief to pause and rescind those firings at several agencies, finding that OPM likely unlawfully directed the firing of those agency workers. That order has similarly prompted reinstatements. Since the court decision, the National Science Foundation moved to reinstate its fired federal probationary workers, citing the federal courts and updated guidance from the Office of Personnel Management. 

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How probationary firings are ‘devastating’ to cyber, national security; In light of court rulings, some fired probationary employees are being reinstated

All non-critical and non-statutorily required work will cease at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services as part of a 50% reduction of the office, according to Director Thomas Shedd. In his prepared remarks for a Thursday afternoon town hall, which were obtained by FedScoop, Shedd said that to deliver technology at GSA in a “more focused and streamlined way,” moving forward TTS will support only work that is required by statute and policy, fits into the Trump administration’s definition of critical, and is prioritized by the leadership at GSA “in accordance with the priorities of the administration.” Everything else will be eliminated, per Shedd, who said in his remarks that TTS will be smaller in size – at least 50% smaller. Additionally, any contracts that support the work that falls outside of the established bounds “will be terminated” and any job functions that are deemed non-essential will be cut. The prioritized and remaining TTS programs include Login.gov, FedRAMP, Cloud.gov, statutorily required websites, the Integrated Award Environment, the Office of Regulatory Oversight, the Centers of Excellence, the Presidential Innovation Fellowship Program, the U.S. Digital Corps, operations and other “special projects.”

Australian-based software company Atlassian has tapped Matthew Graviss to be its first public sector chief technology officer following his recent departure as the State Department’s top data and AI official. Although the role starts a new private sector chapter in Graviss’s career, being the first person to establish a newly created position is familiar ground. During his time in the federal government, Graviss was the first-ever chief data officer at both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  In an interview with FedScoop, Graviss said his role at Atlassian is an extension of that experience in that he’ll again be codifying the responsibilities of the job, showing value and solving customer problems.  Regardless of whether his role is in or out of the government, Graviss said “the delivery of better goods and services to citizens is contingent upon … an ecosystem of government employees, service providers, and solution providers.”

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GSA reveals plans to reduce TTS tech services arm by 50%, eliminate non-statutory work; Former State Department CAIO Matthew Graviss joins Atlassian

When the Trump administration began sidelining and laying off personnel at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, it started by targeting employees who worked on election security and disinformation. At the same time, the Department Homeland Security announced it would conduct a comprehensive review of CISA’s election security mission. Last week, the agency confirmed that it has completed the review, but said that its findings won’t be released to the public. A spokesperson for the agency said: “The assessment that CISA has undertaken is internal and will help inform how the agency moves forward to best support critical infrastructure. This is an internal document that is not planned to be released publicly.” A DHS spokesperson told CyberScoop in an email that the department had nothing else to share at this time.

Secretary Pete Hegseth is directing all Defense Department components to embrace a rapid software acquisition pathway and use commercial solutions opening and Other Transaction authority to speed up the procurement of digital tools for warfighters. The department’s Software Acquisition Pathway was set up during the first Trump administration under then Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord as part of a broader push for a so-called Adaptive Acquisition Framework that enables the department to procure software differently than it buys hardware. Programs on that pathway are not subject to some of the encumbrances associated with the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System and major defense acquisition program designations. Now, Hegseth wants to make sure all DOD components are taking advantage of the pathway.

CISA completed its election security review but won’t make the results public; Secretary Hegseth issues a new directive on DOD software acquisition

Early in the morning on March 1, without notice, the General Services Administration eliminated its 18F program, what was an internal team of tech consultants and engineers that developed open-source tools to improve digital services across the federal government. Just short of its 11th birthday, 18F had grown to be a staple in the federal government’s digital services development and acquisition space. Now when you type in "18F.gov" to visit its website, you’re met with an error message. The team has been completely wiped from the face of the federal government. GSA hasn’t given much reasoning for the termination. Thomas Shedd, head of the agency’s Technology Transformation Services organization that housed 18F, said during a town hall last week that the decision was based purely on its reported cashflow struggles and that it hadn’t been cost-recoverable. Dan Tangherlini, former GSA administrator when 18F was founded, joins the Daily Scoop to share his thoughts on what 18F meant to good government, the legacy of the organization, and how GSA will continue to serve as the federal government’s center of tech excellence without this key team moving forward.

Roughly a month after being replaced as acting CIO of the Department of Energy, Principal Deputy CIO Dawn Zimmer is now back serving in the department’s top IT role, multiple sources familiar with the change confirmed to FedScoop. Zimmer is filling the CIO position for the second time since Inauguration Day after Ryan Riedel briefly took on the role overseeing the department’s $4.3 billion IT portfolio in early February. As FedScoop first reported, Zimmer returned to her primary role as principal deputy CIO at Energy when Riedel, previously a network engineer at Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, was appointed to the CIO role. She took over the acting CIO role after Biden administration Energy CIO Ann Dunkin stepped down at the change of administrations.  It’s unclear why Riedel departed the role after just over a month. The Energy Department did not return questions about his short tenure.

President Donald Trump nominated Sean Plankey to head the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday, the last major piece to fall into place for cybersecurity leadership in his administration. Plankey served in the first Trump administration, holding a few posts with cyber responsibilities. He was the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Energy Department’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response in 2019 and 2020. Before that he was director of cyber policy at the National Security Council, starting in 2018. He has most recently been at the global cybersecurity advisory company WTW. Plankey was briefly under consideration in 2020 to lead the agency he’s now nominated to be director of after Trump forced Chris Krebs out of the role. He had long been thought to be Trump’s pick this time around, too.

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Trying to make sense of the elimination of 18F

Ethan Klein, an emerging technology policy adviser during the first Trump administration, has been nominated to be the White House’s chief technology officer, the Office of Science and Technology Policy confirmed Tuesday. After serving in the first Trump White House, Klein completed a PhD in nuclear science and engineering at MIT, where he worked to develop nuclear tech for arms control and nonproliferation with funds from a fellowship through the National Nuclear Security Administration. Klein also spent time at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which is operated for the NNSA and focuses on weapons development, stewardship and national security.
Klein has been pursuing an MBA at Stanford, while working as a summer associate for the Aerospace and Defense group within Lazard, a financial advisory and asset management firm. If confirmed as CTO, Klein would fill the same role that Michael Kratsios did during the first Trump administration, which went unfilled for the entirety of the Biden administration.

The Department of Government Efficiency’s increasingly vast power across the government likely makes it subject to U.S. records law, a federal judge said Monday in a ruling that ordered the Elon Musk-led group to begin processing requests on an expedited timeline. In a 37-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper concluded that DOGE — the rebranded U.S. Digital Service — “is likely exercising substantial independent authority much greater than” other components within the Executive Office of the President that are covered by the Freedom of Information Act, subjecting it to the same rules. Cooper noted as examples that the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Council on Environmental Quality are both covered by FOIA due to the substantial independent authority they wield when it comes to the evaluation of federal programs.

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The Trump administration picks a U.S. CTO; Judge says the DOGE will likely have to turn over its records sooner rather than later

A podcast covering the latest news & trends facing top government leaders on topics such as technology, management & workforce. Hosted by Billy Mitchell on FedScoop and released every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

USAID website goes dark, staff emails deactivated amid DOGE takeover; NOAA inboxes spammed with crude Trump jokes, Scientology subscription

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