A Boston man who oversaw info safety for the federal Veterans Affairs web site says he has been fired because the Trump administration ramps up its efforts to downsize the federal workforce.
MIT graduate Jonathan Kamens, “deployed” to the VA as an info safety lead by means of the previous US Digital Service, is talking out after he discovered Friday night time that he and dozens of his colleagues had been laid off, calling President Trump and Elon Musk’s actions “illegal.”
“The country is in a bit of chaos right now, the job market is a little rough right now, but I am not worried about where I will land,” Kamens informed the Herald Monday. “I am much more worried about where this country is going to land if we don’t push back against what’s going on.”
“The people who work for the federal government are dedicated and are concerned about the future of this country,” he added. “Every single one of them who gets fired without due process, without cause, is a loss to the nation, and it damages the government’s ability to provide the services that the American people need.”
Roughly 160 workers who had labored for the Digital Service remained on the job when Trump renamed the company on his first day again in workplace final month to the Division of Authorities Effectivity, a Musk-led particular fee tasked with slashing federal spending.
Kamens mentioned he landed his distant position for the Digital Service in June 2023 after working for greater than 30 years within the non-public sector, principally at startups within the Boston space. President Barack Obama launched the company in 2014 to repair glitches plaguing HealthCare.gov and modernize the federal government’s method to expertise.
Roughly 50 USDS staffers acquired termination letters Friday from the DOGE SERVICE that cited Trump’s govt order establishing the company.
“Due to the restructuring and changes to USDS’s mission, USDS no longer has need for your services,” one letter mentioned, in line with a duplicate shared with Bloomberg.
The dismissals are a part of a wave of 1000’s of terminations throughout a slew of federal businesses. Lots of these receiving termination notices throughout the federal government are probationary workers, who’ve labored for the federal government for lower than a 12 months.
USDS had four-year time period limits, differing from the probationary statuses seen in different businesses.
In a LinkedIn submit on Saturday about his scenario, Kamens, who publicly endorsed Kamala Harris for president forward of final November’s Election, mentioned he was “fairly certain” he was “illegally fired due to political considerations, i.e., disloyalty to the administration.”
Kamens declined to increase additional when requested by the Herald what he meant. In a LinkedIn submit forward of the Inauguration, he acknowledged he would “probably need to step away” because the “the substantial uncertainty and chaos surrounding the impending transition to the next presidential administration exceed my family’s risk tolerance threshold.”
Kamens mentioned he was deployed to the VA to “level up” its “cybersecurity practices” to fight evolving cyber threats. Within the position, he was “in charge of information security for VA.gov, which has millions of users per month and stores and processes huge amounts of veterans’ personal information.”
“I’ve been told by people I’ve worked with that I’m the best at what I do of anyone they’ve ever met,” he wrote within the submit Saturday, which has been seen by a whole bunch of 1000’s of platform customers. “Now there will be no strong information security leadership for VA.gov, putting veteran privacy at risk. Does this seem like improving government efficiency?”
Kamens mentioned he declined a buyout provide that provided eight months of pay and advantages as a result of he didn’t wish to go away authorities service. Roughly 75,000 workers – lower than 4% of the federal workforce – accepted the package deal.
After securing a courtroom ruling upholding its authority late final week, the Trump administration initiated mass layoffs throughout scores of federal businesses – a method that the president and Elon Musk say goals to make the federal government extra environment friendly.
Trump, in an govt order earlier than the courtroom ruling, informed company leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions.” The Workplace of Personnel Administration, the federal authorities’s human sources division, has given businesses till 8 p.m. Tuesday to subject layoff notices.
The Division of Health and Human Providers, the Division of Vitality, the Division of Schooling, the Division of Agriculture, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the US Forest Providers are simply among the businesses which have layoff efforts in full drive.
The VA additionally introduced final week it had “dismissed” greater than 1,000 workers who had both served lower than a 12 months in a “competitive service appointment” or lower than two years in an “excepted service appointment.”
Newly appointed VA officers have projected that the layoffs will save the division “more than $98 million per year.” They’ve additionally highlighted how “all of those resources” will likely be “redirected back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.”
Greater than 43,000 probationary workers in mission-critical roles acquired exemptions from the dismissals, the VA has mentioned. “This was a tough decision, but ultimately it’s the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve,” Secretary Doug Collins mentioned in a press release.
“The firings that DOGE is doing throughout the government, I don’t think they’re making the government more efficient which Musk claims he’s trying to accomplish,” Kamens informed the Herald. “What I think they are doing is tearing apart the government’s ability to serve the American people.”
Massachusetts’ Congressional delegation has been a vocal critic of Trump and Musk’s authority to chop federal businesses and conduct mass layoffs. Legal professional Normal Andrea Campbell and 13 of her counterparts filed a federal lawsuit final week and argued DOGE’s actions must be taken by a “nominated and Senate-confirmed officer.”
“It’s risky for me to be speaking out,” Kamens mentioned Monday, “but I think we have to do it. It’s the best and the only way we’re going to recover some level of what we’re losing, to protect the government and what the government does to serve the American people from the damage that’s being done to it.”
Herald wire companies contributed to this report
