DOGE workers are revolting against Elon Musk and Donald Trump by signing a dramatic resignation letter vowing not to defund ‘public services.’

‘We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,’ 21 former DOGE staffers wrote in a letter first reported on by AP.

These ex-DOGE workers, who are not part of Musk’s personally hired nerd army, said that they refuse to ‘dismantle critical public services’ being slashed.

All of the now-resigned workers were a part of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), the small government department of roughly 100 workers that Musk turned into DOGE.

Since the billionaire’s takeover of the department, DOGE has fired 40 of those workers.

In the last month, DOGE has rampaged through many federal agencies demanding access to sensitive data, sit-down performance reviews with agency employees and, most recently, email receipts of what federal employees achieve in any given week.

‘Several of these interviewers refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalty, attempted to pit colleagues against each other, and demonstrated limited technical ability,’ the staffers revealed in their letter, seemingly slamming the DOGE workers who quizzed them as hostile.

‘This process created significant security risks,’ they wrote.

But DOGE Spokeswoman Katie Miller posted on X that the workers who signed the letters ‘were full remote workers who hung Trans flags from their workplaces.’

People holding banners chant during a rally outside Jacob K. Javits Federal Building against the firings of thousands of federal workers by U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in New York City, February 19, 2025

Musk holding a chainsaw on stage at a conservative conference last week

Many of the employees were former big tech workers who feigned disappointment with the massive DOGE federal review that has already saved about $65 billion in taxpayer dollars, the group claims.

Those billions in savings came from DOGE cutting many contracts for foreign aid, DEI education, recently hired federal employees and more.

‘These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services,’ the former DOGE employee’s resignation letter says.

‘Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American’s data less safe.’

The mass quitting event come at a tumultuous time for DOGE.

After sending effectively all federal workers an email from a sender titled ‘HR’ – really from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – asking ‘what did you do last week’ many of Trump’s lieutenants had to clarify the vague email from Musk’s team.

Recently confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel told his team to disregard the email. The Pentagon, under Pete Hegseth, also put out a statement telling employees to not address the request from ‘HR.’

However, in another post on X, the app’s owner and DOGE’s leader said that whoever disregards the next email will be fired.

Researchers, academics and protesters rally outside the Health and Human Services (HHS) Building against US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) funding freezes on research and higher education in Washington, DC, USA, 19 February 2025. DOGE laid off 3,600 probationary HHS workers in recent weeks

‘Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,’ Musk said of employees who did not respond to his first email.

‘Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,’ the post continued.

Roughly one third of the DOGE workers who were holdovers from the U.S. Digital Service quit Tuesday as a result of the letter, the AP reports.

‘We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,’ their letter states.

‘We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.’