When President-elect Donald Trump said Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would recommend major cuts to the federal government in his administration, many public employees knew that their jobs could be on the line<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now they have a new fear: becoming the personal targets of the world\u2019s richest man \u2013 and his legions of followers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, in the midst of the flurry of his daily missives, Musk reposted two X posts that revealed the names and titles of people holding four relatively obscure climate-related government positions. Each post has been viewed tens of millions of times, and the individuals named have been subjected to a barrage of negative attention. At least one of the four women named has deleted her social media accounts<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the information he posted on those government positions is available through public online databases, these posts target otherwise unknown government employees in roles that do not deal directly with the public<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several current federal employees told CNN they\u2019re afraid their lives will be forever changed \u2013 including physically threatened \u2013 as Musk makes behind-the-scenes bureaucrats into personal targets. Others told CNN that the threat of being in Musk\u2019s crosshairs might even drive them from their jobs entirely \u2013 achieving Musk\u2019s smaller government goals without so much as a proper review<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese tactics are aimed at sowing terror and fear at federal employees,\u201d said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 800,000 of the 2.3 million civilian federal employees. \u201cIt\u2019s intended to make them fearful that they will become afraid to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This isn\u2019t new behavior for Musk, who has often singled out individuals who he claims have made mistakes or stand in his way. One former federal employee, previously targeted by Musk, said she experienced something very similar<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s his way of intimidating people to either quit or also send a signal to all the other agencies that \u2018you\u2019re next\u2019,\u201d said Mary \u201cMissy\u201d Cummings, an engineering and computer science professor at George Mason University, who drew Musk\u2019s ire because of her criticisms of Tesla when she was at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week Musk reposted an account with the handle Fentasyl and the name \u201cDatahazard,\u201d which describes itself as \u201cUnincorporated Think Tank ~~ Focus: Govt Efficiency, Civil Rights, Victim Advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the posts reads: \u201cI don\u2019t think the U.S. taxpayers should pay for the employment of a \u2019Director of Climate Diversification (she\/her)\u2019 at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation,\u201d with a partial screengrab of an employee and her location<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk, who called himself \u201csuper pro climate\u201d in an X post last year, reposted and commented: \u201cSo many fake jobs.\u201d The post has received more than 33 million views and a storm of negative comments. Some called the role a \u201cfraud job\u201d and others demanded Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency cut jobs like it. One user commented: \u201cGravy train is over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It appears the woman Musk targeted has since gone dark on social media, shutting down her accounts. The agency, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, says it supports investment in climate mitigation, resilience and adaptation in low-income countries experiencing the most devastating effects of climate change. A DFC official said the agency does not comment on individual personnel positions or matters<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk also called out the Department of Energy\u2019s chief climate officer in its loan programs office. The office funds fledgling energy technologies in need of early investment and awarded US$465 million to Tesla Motors in 2010, helping to position Musk\u2019s electric vehicle company as an EV industry leader. The chief climate officer works across agencies to \u201creduce barriers and enable clean energy deployment\u201d according to her online bio<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another woman, who serves as senior advisor on environmental justice and climate change at the Department of Health and Human Services, was another Musk target. HHS focuses on protecting the public health from pollution and other environmental hazards, especially in low-income communities and communities of color that are experiencing a higher share of exposures and impacts. The office first launched at Health and Human Services under the Biden administration in 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A senior adviser to climate at the Department of Housing and Urban Development was also singled out. The original X post said the woman \u201cshould not be paid US$181,648.00 by the U.S. taxpayer to be the \u2018Climate advisor\u2019 at HUD.\u201d Musk reposted with the comment: \u201cBut maybe her advice is amazing.\u201d Followed by two laughing emojis<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CNN reached out to all four federal employees who either declined comment or were unable to be reached. CNN also reached out to HHS, DOE and HUD for comment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
X did not respond to an email seeking comment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AFGE public union pointed out that as a federal contractor, Musk himself has benefited from government programs, with US$750 billion per year spent on federal contractors compared to about US$200 billion for the civilian federal workforce. \u201cWe are a comparative steal, and we want to help clean it up too,\u201d Kelley said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk has done this kind of thing before \u2013 and it\u2019s led to real danger for the people named<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Missy Cummings angered Musk when she was appointed a senior advisor at the NHTSA because her research and public comments were critical of Tesla\u2019s driver-assist programs and she had called for regulating the systems<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Musk targeted Cummings on what was then called Twitter, and his legions of fans followed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview, Cummings said she received a torrent of attacks, including death threats, and had to temporarily relocated before she eventually moved<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cummings said she already knows of federal employees who \u201chave dedicated their lives to civil service,\u201d already quitting their jobs in anticipation of what\u2019s to come<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe intended for them, for people just like this, to be intimidated and just go ahead and quit so he didn\u2019t have to fire them. So his plan, to some extent, is working,\u201d she said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CNN reached out to multiple experts and academics who specialize in cyber harassment, doxing and online abuse. But several to comment on the record for fear of themselves becoming Musk\u2019s targets<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat has happened has an incredible and horrific chilling effect,\u201d one of them said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another said they are \u201cnot surprised\u201d with Musk\u2019s re-posts, adding they are an example of a \u201cclassic pattern\u201d of cyber harassment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramaswamy did not directly respond to questions about singling out individual federal employees but told CNN: \u201cMost federal employees, like most human beings, are fundamentally good people and deserve to be treated with respect, but the real problem is the bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur opponent is not any particular individual. Our opponent is the bureaucracy,\u201d he added<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a follow-up post, the Fentasyl account, which itself is anonymous, wrote: \u201cIt goes without saying that you should not harass someone solely because they hold a senior government plum job that should probably not exist,\u201d the account posted. \u201cBut senior government officials are not mere rank-and-file employees. We deserve to know who is running our government & what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cummings, who was also one of the first female fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy, said she felt an obligation to speak out<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSomebody has got to speak out,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m just not going to let him win on this point.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When President-elect Donald Trump said Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would recommend major cuts to the federal government in his administration, many public employees knew that their jobs could be on the line Now they have a new fear: becoming the personal targets of the world\u2019s richest man \u2013 and his legions of followers Last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":31347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"jnews_post_split":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n