When President-elect Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would spearhead efforts to recommend significant reductions to the federal government, many public employees braced for potential impacts on their careers. Now, a new concern has emerged: the prospect of becoming the personal targets of Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, and his massive following.
Elon Musk shares names and titles
Recently, Musk reshared two posts on his social media platform, X, revealing the names and titles of individuals holding four relatively obscure, climate-focused federal government positions. Each of these posts garnered tens of millions of views, subjecting the named individuals to intense public scrutiny and negative attention. At least one of the women named has since deactivated her social media accounts.
Although the information Musk highlighted is publicly accessible through government databases, his actions spotlight employees in behind-the-scenes roles that generally do not engage directly with the public. Several current federal employees expressed to CNN that they fear this exposure could lead to threats to their personal safety and irreparable changes to their lives. Some also worry that this type of targeting might push them out of their roles, inadvertently aiding Musk’s apparent aim to shrink government operations without formal procedures.
Musk instilling fear among federal employees
“Such tactics are designed to instill fear among federal employees,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents over 800,000 civilian federal employees. “The goal is to make them too afraid to speak up.”
This is not the first instance of Musk singling out individuals who he claims obstruct his goals or make mistakes. Mary “Missy” Cummings, an engineering and computer science professor at George Mason University, shared her own experience after being targeted by Musk during her tenure at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Cummings, who had previously criticized Tesla, described Musk’s approach as a deliberate intimidation tactic. “It’s his way of either forcing people to quit or sending a message to other agencies that ‘you’re next,’” she said.
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