Rachael Dietkus

If Russell Vought wants a progress report on how his federal worker “trauma strategy” is performing, Virginia, who has the 2nd largest federal workforce, flipped 13 seats blue yesterday.

Today was a heavy one. I know folks are hurting over the harms our best efforts didn't prevent. It's not a fair fight, and these things are going to happen. Too often, the best we can do is document the damage done.

Thank you for resharing this, @schock.cc!

I can’t claim any credit to this fantastic website… other than deep admiration. I was simply happy to share it!

Beyond excited that I get to speak at @sdingov.bsky.social (SDinGov) next month. Will you be there?! Let’s definitely connect!

(1) Social workers have a professional Code of Ethics and many need to have a masters degree, a license, and tons of continuing education to do (and keep doing) what we do.

(2) Understanding trauma comes from far more than a one-hour snake oil webinar (often from someone marketing to your pain).

@laurigoldkind.bsky.social starting of #NASW2025 plenary on #ArtificialIntelligence. Great overview. #SWTech @naswsocialworkers.bsky.social

But… we don’t need trauma-informed care, design, tech, policy, governance. Nah. 😏

Inside the AI Prompts DOGE Used to “Munch” Contracts Related to Veterans’ Health Experts who reviewed the code for ProPublica found numerous and troubling flaws in the system, providing a disturbing glimpse into how the Trump administration is allowing artificial intelligence to g...

I learned so much talking to ProPublica for this story. It's a telling window into how Trump/DOGE are using AI to shrink the government and the consequences. And even though this use is particularly ham-handed, it's a good example of the limitations of the technology more generally.🧵 @propublica.org

I was so happy to have Kate and Milo from @altusds.bsky.social on the show!

The way they spoke about tech development shows how differently it can be done if the will is there. It’s so different from techies who build tools for themselves then say everyone else should just learn to code.

DOGE Is Gutting the US Digital Service w/ Kate Green and Milo — Tech Won't Save Us Paris Marx is joined by Kate Green and Milo to discuss how Elon Musk’s DOGE is dismantling the US Digital Service and the consequences that has on really improving service delivery in government. Kate...

Fascinating conversation. If you want to know what the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) does and why it’s being fucked up this is a good episode to listen to. I will also recommend the podcast, “System Crash” that @parismarx.com does with @brianmerchant.bsky.social. Both are excellent.

Centralizing Personnel Authority A new Trump move seeks to evade court orders and empower DOGE

New, from me:
Trump recently issued a memo giving the Office of Personnel Management, and not agencies, final say on which new employees get to stay in government.

This centralization of personnel authority tells us a lot about Trump's mode of governing. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/centralizi...

I helped build a government AI system. DOGE fired me, rolled the AI out to the whole agency, and implied the AI can do my job and the jobs of the others they've fired.

It can't. But, what DOGE accidentally revealed about themselves in the process is fascinating. 🧵

The October Story That Outlined Exactly What the Trump Administration Would Do to the Federal Bureaucracy Historians have hindsight when they look into the past; journalists have the facts on the ground and context to help them look ahead. That means we can sometimes be surprised by how prescient a story ...

NEW: In October, we published secret recordings of Russell Vought discussing plans to eviscerate entire agencies and decimate the morale of federal workers if Trump won a second term.

It's hard to imagine a more prescient piece of journalism, our editor-in-chief @sengelberg.bsky.social writes.

Thanks for all the excitement, we'll get this thing going shortly. Get on our mailing list at digitalcorpspdx.org

Trauma and Design written by Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

Tonight, I re-read this ‘Trauma and Design’ piece I wrote 4 years ago (May 2021) on Medium, although I could have easily written it in the last 8 weeks. It’s eerily relevant to current events.

Please read + reshare.

Link: medium.com/surviving-id...

Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’ Musk’s loyalists at DOGE have infiltrated dozens of federal agencies, pushed out tens of thousands of workers, and siphoned millions of people’s most sensitive data. The next step: Unleash the AI.

NEW: The WIRED crew takes you inside the first 6 weeks of DOGE, laying out in great detail how Elon Musk installed loyalists across government who gained access to our country's most sensitive computer systems.

“This is a digital coup,” one USAID source told me.
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency.

18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people:
18f.org

If you worked for 18F and got fired, Group together to start a consulting company.

It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably create.

They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms.

I’m happy to invest and/or help

Rather than violate their oath or comply with Musk’s illegal requests, 21 civil service employees resigned today from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (formerly the United States Digital Service), stating they would not use their technical expertise to dismantle critical public services.

I couldn’t agree more re: this being underreported. I’ve been tracking this element around the edges and watching things fray. So much more needs to be written and done about this.

It really needs to.

I appreciate @donmoyn.bsky.social letting this writing on “The Weaponization of Trauma” be a guest piece on his remarkable blog, Can We Still Govern. See the link below.

And listen to the @nytimes.com episode of The Daily, which was the anchor for this writing: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Tag yourself. I'm "Fight, Flight, Freeze" and "Grief & Mourning."

The US Digital Service (USDS) - now the US DOGE Service - is being weaponized by the Trump administration to target career federal employees, dismantle safeguards, and enable corruption.

👀 Read more on our site.

🔗 wethebuilders.org

#DefendDemocracy #SaveOurServices #AltUSDS #fedworkers

An illustration of pink, orange, and yellow flames with a purple background.

What is your ethical stance?

Civic technologists need an ethical stance – a clear articulation of what we are willing to participate in and where we draw the line. Without one, we risk becoming complicit in the very harms we sought to prevent.

Read more here: lnkd.in/gdC3sCyv

As the more mainstream press continues to flail on this story, Wired is all fucking over it.

#SWtech this post from Ariel at Beeck is important for social work students and social workers to be aware of: bsky.app/profile/arie...

The digital infrastructure of the United States Government is both critical and fragile. Many of us who work in digital government have been trying to figure out what’s going on as norms and protocols are being subverted — Thread on some of what we know so far: