Employees at Defense Digital Service, a "SWAT team of nerds," are resigning en masse from their jobs at the Pentagon following pressure from the Department of Government Efficiency, Politico reported.
The resignations will shut down the decade-old program at the end of the month, three employees told Politico.
The agency was created in 2015 to help the Defense Department adopt tech fixes during national security crises with the goal of having Silicon Valley-style innovation inside the Pentagon, Politico said.
The Defense Digital Service helped build rapid response tools that assisted the military during the Afghanistan withdrawal and with Ukraine military aid, humanitarian aid, and drone detection, Politico said.
Jennifer Hay, the director of the 14-person team plans to leave by May 1, while 11 other employees will take President Donald Trump's deferred resignation package. Two other staffers are also leaving, Politico reported.
The office's functions will be absorbed by the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, a Pentagon spokesman told Politico.
Hay told Politico she and her staff expected to be part of DOGE's efforts to automate the Pentagon operations and adopt AI, only to find themselves sidelined. Tech mogul Elon Musk oversees DOGE.
"The reason we stuck it out as long as we have is that we thought we were going to be called in," said Hay.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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