"... a former product manager at the U.S. Digital Service said the Trump administration laid off, fired, or offered deferred resignations to 'amazingly talented' engineers and data scientists earlier this year and is now searching for replacements with less experience. 'It’s comical.'"

This tweet from Big Balls says the new “Tech Force” website is their first using the “America Design System.” Here are just a few reasons why that sucks. 🧵

"The creation of the Tech Force follows the administration’s hasty closure of several of the government's existing technology teams ... . In March, GSA dismantled 18F, an internal government tech consultancy group, after Elon Musk posted on X that the group had been 'deleted.'” 🤷‍♂️

"The existing NDS sites therefore behave more like billboards than public infrastructure. ... What makes this shift hardest to justify is that the federal government already had ... [an] office whose job was to actually make government UX work better. From 2014 to 2025, that work lived inside 18F."

DOGE may no longer be moving across the government in a move-fast-and-break-things blitz, but its affiliates appear to be digging in for the long haul—and Silicon Valley–shaped fingerprints remain all over the way agencies continue to be run.

In September, I (and many other accessibility advocates) reviewed the America by Design website, finding sloppy AI-generated code and accessibility bugs. @notus.com wrote on it, and also spoke to many amazing folks from @alt18f.bsky.social and @ethanmarcotte.com www.notus.org/trump-white-...

The "DOGE is gone" articles are clickbait but this one gets it closer to the truth: DOGE is not gone, it just claims to have "no centralized leadership" anymore -- in other words, its leadership is hiding in an attempt to avoid blame.

"It's hard to see [accessibility issues on new .gov sites] as anything but a deliberate choice. That also sends a clear message of who this administration feels has a place in American life, who is worthy enough to access information and services and who is not worth their time."

From 18F alum @matthenry.fyi: "If [sites like America By Design] are any indication of what was coming down the pike as the future of government websites, it's a bad sign for the people who have to build and maintain those sites, it's a bad sign for USWDS, and it's a bad sign for you as a user ... "

Cool to see this state-level design system tracker by @beeckcenter.bsky.social. Contrary to the beliefs of some—design is so much more than branding and beauty. And it looks like at least MD and NJ are using USWDS as a base (and maybe soon CO). digitalgovernmenthub.org/publications...

🏆 Join us Dec 2 for the Digital Service Champions Awards! Celebrating government teams & civic tech champions transforming how digital services meet community needs. Free virtual event, 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET RSVP: usdigitalresponse-org.zoom.us/meeting/regi... #CivicTech #GovTech #DigitalGovernment

The administration has pulled the plug on IRS Direct File, a tool that helped eligible taxpayers file for free. This decision comes despite Direct File’s immense popularity with its users.

A new .gov domain was registered yesterday: techforce.gov. It resolves to an auth page that identifies it as part of the National Design Studio. Trump and Musk eliminated 18F and destroyed USDS, and now the feds are scrambling to rebuild the capacity that they destroyed.

“[Borges] ... told his young child he had to make a difficult decision. 'I said that sometimes you make difficult choices, sometimes you have to do what’s right. My child understands right and wrong, and sometimes even doing what’s right has consequences.'"

" ... DOGE is jeopardizing Americans’ most sensitive data, while its employees operate under a layer of secrecy that shields them from meaningful oversight and accountability. This environment results in serious cybersecurity vulnerabilities, privacy violations, and risk of corruption ... "

Our thoughts are with the public servants caught up in the latest round of RIF notices. We've said this before, and we'll repeat it now: You matter. Your work matters.

"What sets Kupor’s efforts to attract tech talent apart from his predecessors' is the fact that they come after sweeping cuts pushed by DOGE. ... The entire 18F office at the General Services Administration ... was laid off in the spring."

Our friends at @usdigitalresponse.org are hosting the 2025 Digital Service Champions Awards to recognize folks doing great work in #civictech. Nominations close this Friday, October 10. ⏳ Government awards: usdr.link/champions-government Individual awards: usdr.link/champions-individual

🗣️ We're hosting an archival version of "plainlanguage.gov" to help make sure this trusted resource remains available to folks who need it.

"The inspector general’s office for the General Services Administration ... said it will look at the impact of several DOGE-backed projects at GSA—including its mass termination of government leases and its decision to shutter its tech office 18F."

"Bringing new tech into the government requires a deep understanding of how it works at every level, from hiring to budgeting and procurement policy. But ... the DOGE team did not try to understand how the government worked."

Hey all, I'm trying a new layout for some tables in DOGE track to hopefully make things a little easier to follow. I'm really liking it, but let me know feedback! dogetrack.info/agencies/gsa/

When bad design isn’t a mistake, it’s the strategy. The “America by Design” initiative isn’t just a messy website. It redefines design itself, away from accessibility and toward exclusion, erasure, and control. Latest essay by @emcg.bsky.social

“I hope that [future administrations] pick the tax work back up where it was, which was a lot of momentum. And I hope they take that same energy across the rest of the government. I’m a firm believer, government can be a force for good in people’s lives."

Are you a civil servant looking for resources? Protect Democracy put together this curated list to help you navigate attacks on the federal workforce. Read, bookmark and share: https://protectdemocracy.org/work/resources-for-civil-servants/

@Erie.bsky.social accepting the EFF Award: “Speaking up is hard and it's scary. But it will only get harder and scarier from here. The best time to do it was yesterday. The second-best time is today. These are not choices we will always have.”

"The shock troops of DOGE, at the Social Security Administration and myriad other federal agencies, were the advance guard ... . And despite the highly public departure of DOGE’s leader, Elon Musk, that campaign continues today."

"In three reports released between 2021 and 2022, the [18F] consultants recommended that the courts immediately build a new case-management system, one that would address not only security, but broader issues like user experience and the complexity of software changes made by individual courts."

Whistleblower reports, letters of dissent, appeals, refusals, resignations—this week saw many civil servants taking personal risks to honor their oath and serve the public interest the best they can. We recognize your courage. 🇺🇸

Breaking News: DOGE put the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans at risk by uploading Social Security data to a vulnerable cloud server, a whistle-blower complaint said.

This WaPo piece about the Airbnb/DOGE guy who is now the head of design in government ignores that: *DOGE fired the actual talented design people in government, including Social Security! *IRS had a beautifully designed tax filing system that DOGE killed *USDS already did online passport renewals

Folks in our community have asked us to comment on “America by Design”—but a site like this largely speaks for itself.

😬

"Great design in government isn’t about fonts and colors. It’s about whether a small business owner can get help without waiting months; whether a senior can see their doctor without wondering who will be peering through her files ... ." —@erie.bsky.social

“Improving our nation through better design” is certainly important work: we know this, because it’s exactly what we were doing when DOGE eliminated 18F entirely.

I’m old enough to remember when personnel moves like this would be called “inefficient”.

🤷

"'That’s the equivalent of basically taking out a credit card with a $20,000 credit limit, canceling it and then saying, 'I’ve just saved $20,000.' Anything that’s been said publicly about [DOGE’s] savings is meaningless.'”

One of the things you learned at 18F and USDS is that government isn’t like a business: it has to serve everybody and not just specific market segments that are the most convenient.

"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other federal employees in similar predicaments at both CDC and across government."

"This campaign to weaken the federal civil service has targeted the very people who keep our government running and provide essential services that we all rely on ... . Of the roughly 2.3 million employees who make up the civilian workforce, more than 80% work outside the Washington, D.C., area."

"There was a goal to 'to reach a specific threshold in cuts ... . But in practice it’s clear there was no intent for actual savings. The losses in services, and time wasted fixing systems because a critical purchase as small as a website certificate was held up was significant.'"

"Nearly 300,000 filers used Direct File for the 2025 tax season, and 94% of users who completed an IRS survey rated their experience as 'excellent' or 'above average.'"

Our weekend reading: "Analyzing the Waste Generated by DOGE," a new report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 👀 www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

"Young stressed that those working on digital tools within the federal government 'have a responsibility to the security and privacy of the public.'" @not-young.bsky.social

Too often, govt measures success by compliance, not outcomes. Public services aren’t delivered until they work for people. In my new @niskanencenter.bsky.social piece, I argue we need more product managers in govt to move from outputs to impact. www.niskanencenter.org/from-complia...

"Technology has become the spinal cord of government. ... Just look at DOGE's approach. When they began cutting across the government, where did they go first? Not to policy offices, not to secretary suites, not to planning departments. They went directly to the levers of IT systems and operations."

EXCLUSIVE: The cuts of cybersecurity and technology staff at the State Department are more extensive than previously reported, and include a significant number of people with specialized skills that could leave major gaps in expertise at the department.

Since day one, the Trump administration has recklessly exploited Americans’ sensitive data in efforts to deport immigrants, restrict access to critical benefits and services, and gut the federal workforce. Here’s what we’ve learned so far: unbreaking.org/issues/data-...