Employees at the Technology Transformation Services, a division of the General Services Administration, are voicing dissent against President Trump and Elon Musk’s policies. They protested a deferred resignation program by using spoon emojis in internal communications and opposed a request from Thomas Shedd, a Trump appointee and former Tesla engineer, for access to the Notify.gov database. One employee resigned, citing concerns over personal information exposure. This resignation caused an uproar among colleagues questioning Shedd’s access need and the request’s security implications. Shedd defended his request but expressed disappointment over the leaked communications, urging staff to foster a more supportive environment.
A faction of the government’s more technologically adept workforce has emerged as a burgeoning source of opposition to President Trump and Elon Musk’s transformation of Washington.
Employees at the Technology Transformation Services, the tech-oriented sector of the General Services Administration, protested the deferred resignation initiative known as Fork in the Road this month by inundating internal communication platforms with spoon emojis. This week, they have resisted a Trump appointee’s effort to access an internal database.
On Tuesday, one staff member announced his resignation in a message shared within a Slack channel that included about 75 colleagues. He explained that he had been requested to give Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer and the newly appointed leader of the Technology Transformation Services, access to the Notify.gov database, used by federal, state, and local agencies to communicate with the public regarding government services.
The employee expressed that he viewed this as a breach of his responsibilities. He indicated that allowing Mr. Shedd access could potentially compromise personal data of Americans, including their phone numbers, as stated in a message that was reviewed by The New York Times and previously reported by technology news site 404 media. He added that Mr. Shedd could “download and store this data without anyone receiving a notification.”
“I don’t think I can manage a program and a system without control over access to PII,” he stated, referring to personally identifiable information.
The resignation sparked a strong reaction on Slack from his coworkers. On Wednesday, they expressed concern over why Mr. Shedd required the access and why the employee was asked to “ignore security protocols,” as detailed in messages reviewed by The Times. Another employee, who had shared the resigning employee’s note, had his Slack account suspended, raising fears among staff that it was a retaliatory action, according to internal messages seen by The Times.
The General Services Administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Shedd defended his request for access in a Slack message sent to employees on Wednesday evening, claiming it was to “ensure I have a comprehensive understanding of how the systems operate.” He mentioned that he did not have administrative access “at this time” to the government database and expressed disappointment regarding the leak of communications.
“Numerous messages meant for internal discussion but subsequently leaked to external channels are only damaging the positioning and reputation of T.T.S.,” he wrote in a message reviewed by The Times. “Moving forward, please ensure conversations remain supportive and constructive to prevent fostering discontent and adversely affecting T.T.S. in unforeseen ways.”