Like a bull in a china shop, Elon Musk and his minions continue to blunder about the General Servicea Administration (GSA).

Established in 1949, the General Services Administration (GSA) has acted as a procurement arm and inter-agency services division for the United States government. In its early days, the GSA helped oversee the rehabilitation of the White House (it didn't look quite as nice back then as it does today) but recently has overseen management of federal real estate and enabling various digital services across different agencies.

It is slated for 50% cuts under Infection 47.

One might be forgiven for assuming these cuts are rational. After all, whoever heard of the GSA before February 2025?

However, reducing the GSA will have wide-ranging impacts across the United States. Unlike Congress, which meets in Washington D.C., and other political operators, the employees of the GSA are spread across the country. Along with managing real-estate, the GSA also handles contracts for the government. As of March 2025, the GSA also has a Technology Transformation Services (TTS) division which develops technology solutions and service platforms for various departments and agencies.

Notable services you may have used which were built or administered by the GSA include:

These are not just websites. Many of these are the face of services that millions of Americans depend on. Other services make the government more transparent, more accessible, and more collaborative in ways that benefit U.S. citizens and residents. In short, these are taxpayer dollars hard at work.

There is a culture in American politics as of late to be bold and brash. Many (including yourself) may assume that if there isn't vulgarity, if things aren't being torn down, and if dignitaries are not being berated - that America is weak.

In reality, real strength and real progress are a marathon, or rather an orchestra - with a strong but silent conductor. Services rendered by the government are able to be realized by us, by the population of the United States precisely due to deliberate and thoughtful processes put in place by the individuals working for agencies such as the GSA.

These agencies are being systematically attacked. (By none other than the worlds richest person)

Attack is not a term to be used lightly, but it is apt for the situation.

On March 1, 2025, around midnight, the agency termed "18F" was completely shut down. Not through any act of Congress. Not because it ran out of money or was overbudget. And certainly not through reasonable notification of such pending action among its employees or leadership.

Just an e-mail terminating employees in the middle of the night, with no warning and no decency.

Never heard of 18F? You're not alone. Searches for 18F have skyrocketed over the weekend on search engines such as Google:

As a part of TTS, 18F was named for the intersection of streets where its Washington D.C. office was located. Its mission?

18F designers join cross-functional teams to improve interactions between government agencies and the people they serve.

As part of that mission, 18F helped U.S. government agencies avoid predatory consultancies and establishes internal best-practices - even going so far as to templatize and provide web design resources for improved implementation of government services with substantial cost savings.

Isn't it odd that an agency devoted to interagency cooperation and streamlining the implementation and reuse of digital services (saving the taxpayer money) was cut by an administration seemingly hell-bent on efficiency?

Posts on the social media site LinkedIn highlight the disconnect:

We have proven methods that could be replicated, so we helped even more people through guides and writing. Those people are still going. And I am cheering them on. We were living proof that the talking points of this administration were false. Government services can be efficient. You can work with agencies as they are now and work with them to better manage their services. This made us a target. People who own skyscrapers are afraid of 100 people who made websites better. Not because of the latest tech fad, but because we proved that the government can be fixed, the government can be made better and the government can work for the people.
-- Lindsay Young, former Executive Director of 18F

Even if we take at face value the lie that government departments need be wholesale ransacked to make the government more efficient - there is past evidence that such cuts result in institutional loss rather than efficiency. In the mid-1990s, the Clinton administration attempted buyouts with this same goal. Rather than becoming more efficient, numerous agencies reported a brain drain and increased delays due to insufficient staffing.

DOGE has nothing to do with efficiency. It is all about entropy - privatizing or shutting down as much of the U.S. government in the most chaotic and cruel manner possible.

The individuals impacted aren't bureaucrats - they're your friends, family, and neighbors. Many of the services and agencies being shuttered speak to the real needs of millions of Americans - regardless of class, creed or political affiliation.

The follow-on effects of this assault on democracy will be felt by generations if we do not act now.