General Services Administration
Once a relatively obscure agency that provided shared services and procurement services for the government, GSA became an integral part of DOGE’s early-phase plans for taking over parts of the federal bureaucracy precisely for those reasons. From the very first day of the Trump presidency, DOGE established a sizable team at GSA. Some of these were focused on drastic cost-reduction efforts like cancelling government leases or unilaterally dropping the purchasing limit of government purchase cards to curtail micro-purchases by government staff. GSA was also the base for many of DOGE’s wrecking crews that were detailed to other agencies, with agency leadership quickly creating a walled-off enclave protected by security guards exclusively for the use of DOGE staff with “A-level access.”
Positions
click for sources; full legend
Events
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
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1/20/25
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Source
Directory
Multiple DOGE staffers start working within GSA in the office of the Administrator with the title Senior Advisor
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1/20/25
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Source
Onboard
Stephen Ehikian is sworn in as the Acting Administrator of the GSA. This move allows the administration to avoid a confirmation process for the role.
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c.1/21/25
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Source
Interagency
Justin Fox reports that connected with him before he started work at DOGE. Besides Armstrong, Justin Fox was also communicating with other DOGE members via Signal both in group chats and individually. This appears to be a violation of government records laws for those other staffers who were already working in the federal government.
(fuzz: Exact date not given, but he testifies that Anthony Armstrong reached out just after inauguration)
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c.1/22/25
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Source
Disruption
Nate Cavanaugh testifies he started working formally for DOGE a few days after the inauguration. He says his first project was a team effort to create an org chart of government agencies. This project evetually became live on the DOGE website. He does not identify who else worked on it.
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1/23/25
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Source
Sighting
A GSA employee reports meeting Kyle Schutt and Ethan Shaotran and also bumping into Edward Coristine. They are described as being giddy and interested and curious and then shifting in tone the following week with DOGE staff “frantically running around trying to do impossible shit with no context and no flexibility and no ability to push back.”
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1/24/25
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Source
Onboard
Thomas Shedd is named as the new head of the Technology Transformation Service (TTS), the parent organization of 18F as well as shared services like Login.gov. He reports to Josh Gruenbaum, who is also appointed on this day as the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Commissioner.
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1/29/25
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Source
Disruption
GSA regional managers receive instructions from HQ that “lease terminations are the clear priority at this time.”
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1/29/25
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Source
Report
A team of high-ranking GSA employees meets with Nicole Hollander to discuss building special “resting rooms” for DOGE and other A-suite staff.
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1/30/25
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Source
Interagency
Elon Musk reportedly visits GSA to meet with staff, several of whom are identified from their appearances in the internal directory for the agency. These include Steve Davis, Nicole Hollander, Thomas Shedd, Stephen Ehikian and Luke Farritor.
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1/31/25
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Source
Directory
Wired reports that DOGE staff are attempting to get elevated access to GSA systems and making changes to office arrangements to create a special reserved floor for their staff with a security guard checking names.
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| February 2025 | |
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2/10/25
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Source
Disruption
Unnamed DOGE staff using non-governmental Google accounts conduct dozens of “touch-base” interviews with dozens of US Digital Corps fellows, under the direction of Thomas Shedd.
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2/12/25
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Source
Disruption
GSA technical staff describe being subjected to 15-minute interviews where they felt they were asked to justify their jobs.
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2/12/25
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Source
Disruption
Dozens of probationary workers within the Technology Transformation Service (TTS) are fired, with many of the cuts focused on the US Digital Corps and Presidential Innovation Fellows programs
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c.2/18/25
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Source
Sighting
ProPublica reports that Frank Schuler has appeared in the GSA directory.
(fuzz: Exact date is not provided in the article)
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c.2/18/25
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Source
Sighting
Frank Schuler is introduced on a video call meeting at the GSA by Nate Cavanaugh.
(fuzz: Exact date is not provided in the article)
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2/18/25
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Source
Disruption
A GSA employee reportedly resigned rather than give unrestricted admin access for the SMS emergency notification service Notify.gov to Thomas Shedd.
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2/19/25
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Source
Disruption
Thomas Shedd has allegedly requested admin access to 19 different systems within TTS at GSA
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2/21/25
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Source
Interagency
Ethan Shaotran and Nate Cavanaugh return to the IAF with Jacob Altik, who presented himself as representing the EOP. Altik confirms that DOGE plans to reduce IAF to what he considers the statutory minimum (a board and president, a location in DC, some grants) and DOGE will be conducting a Reduction in Force of all employees and terminating all grants. The demand approval from the board and threaten the board will be fired otherwise.
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2/25/25
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Source
Action
GSA reportedly spending $25,000 to install a washer and dryer near a makeshift sleeping area occupied by DOGE.
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c.2/26/25
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Source
Interagency
During a call of human capital officers led by OPM, a representative for the GSA announces they are working on a “new federal daily check-in tool.” A test email was sent out on the same day. They announce plans to debut the tool by the first week in March.
(fuzz: Date is just given as “Late February”)
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2/26/25
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Source
Disruption
Without issuaing any warning, GSA puts a $1 spending limit on all government purchase cards following an executive order by Trump. This predictably creates a large amount of chaos by destroying the ability of agencies to do micro-purchases allowed by law.
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2/27/25
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Source
Interagency
DOGE staffers at the Department of the Interior meet with Nicole Hollander from GSA about leases to be cancelled.
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| March 2025 | |
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3/01/25
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Source
Disruption
Hours after the staff is hit with the RIF email, the DNS entry for 18F.gsa.gov is removed
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3/01/25
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Source
Disruption
TTS administrator Thomas Shedd eliminates 90 members of 18F with a 1am firing email and locks them out of their machines
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c.3/03/25
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Source
Interagency
DOE staff (mostly from DOGE) meet exclusively with DOGE staff from both OPM and GSA to discuss DOI’s data centers, cloud infrastructure and software licenses.
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3/04/25
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Source
Directory
Wired reports that some DOGE staff (Kyle Schutt, Nate Cavanaugh) are being paid as full-time GSA employees, but other staff are listed as volunteers for that agency.
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3/06/25
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Source
Disruption
TTS Commissioner Thomas Shedd says in a statement that he expects the Technology Transformation Service will be 50% smaller within weeks.
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3/07/25
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Source
Report
DOGE rolls out a custom GSAi custom chatbot in a trial for 1500 workers.
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3/13/25
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Source
Oversight
46 former GSA executives write an open letter decrying the damage that DOGE has done to the agency.
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3/18/25
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Source
Interagency
A senior policy strategist at the White House relays a “Stephen request” (meaning Stephen Miller) that “POTUS wants to see more action against universities.” Included in the initial coordination is GSA Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum. He becomes involved with figuring out grants from multiple agencies to cut for both University of Pennsylvania and San Jose State University, because they had allowed trans athletes to participate in sports. This is very much not his area of responsibility at the GSA, but he is on the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism which stripped funding from Columbia Univesity.
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3/19/25
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Source
Interagency
During a discussion on how to strip grants from the University of Pennsylvania and San Jose State, GSA FAS Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum sends an email to coordinate grant freezes from DOD, DHS and the EPA. He includes DOGE staffers Kyle Schutt, Adam Hoffman and Kathryn Armstrong Loving as the recipients of these requests.
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3/19/25
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Source
Report
GSA hosts a deep-background media briefing to demo its GSAi tool with invitations sent to reporters from Bloomberg, The Atlantic, and Fox among other media organizations.
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3/20/25
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Source
Directory
Wired Magazine list DOGE staff stationed within GSA, all of whom were listed on GSA payroll on March 20, the same day Stephen Ehikian claimed there were no DOGE staff in the agency.
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3/20/25
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Source
Report
Stephen Ehikian claims during an all-hands meeting that there is nobody from DOGE working at the agency. This is met with widespread ridicule by staff who know about the secured DOGE floor.
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3/21/25
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Source
Report
DOGE expands the GSAi chatbot rollout to more than 13,000 GSA employees who are underwhelmed by its capabilities and concerned about it being a priority.
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3/25/25
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Source
Interagency
Kathryn Armstrong Loving and Erica Jehling continue to work directly with Josh Gruenbaum from the GSA on more grants to cancel at the EPA.
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3/25/25
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Source
Interagency
Nate Cavanaugh contacts the administrator of the GSA to propose transferring the USIP building to them, arguing that USIP won’t need a building because the statute doesn’t mandate it should have one or the staffing to fill it.
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| April 2025 | |
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4/XX/25
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Source
Sighting
A contractor at GSA states that he came across a list of staff at GSA who had not yet completed all of their mandatory security training. This included prominent DOGE staff that had been at the agency for several months like Thomas Shedd, Josh Gruenbaum, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor and Steve Davis.
(fuzz: only month is given in report)
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4/03/25
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Source
Interagency
A human resources division chief at the Peace Corps reports receiving two phone calls in quick succession. The first was from a Senior Advisor at OPM who also claimed to be a liasion for the White House, reporting that a DOGE representative would be detailed from USAID. The second was from a woman detailed to DOGE from GSA, who stated she was originally going to be detailed to USAID but will now be in a leadership position short term. She is not identified but is likely Bridget Youngs.
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4/03/25
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Source
Interagency
Tarak Makecha, a DOGE representative at DOJ is forwarded a list at 6pm of DOJ contracts to terminate for the Acacia Center, a nonprofit in DOGE’s crosshairs that day and a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the DOJ. He coordinates with Josh Gruenbaum at the GSA, who is leading a multi-agency effort to eliminate grants.
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4/08/25
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Source
Directory
A partial copy of the GSA’s A-Suite access list includes multiple DOGE personnel who are listed as based in GSA.
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4/10/25
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Source
Report
Ethan Shaotran is converted to a regular position at the GSA at the GS-14 level, which would mean an annual salary of $142,488 - $185,234 in Washington, DC. This is a relatively senior position for any government worker that would not normally be granted to someone with his limited work experience.
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4/21/25
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Source
Official
OMB issues a new memo mandating that agencies must collect daily occupancy data on all workers by May 4th. To support this effort, GSA unveils a website outlining methods to track federal workers, including mandatory daily surveys, monitoring badge usage or even video surveillance.
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4/29/25
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Source
Interagency
Nate Cavanaugh sends an email to the two remaining members of the CPB board requesting a meeting. He describes a DOGE team at GSA and cc’s several other members of DOGE
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4/30/25
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Source
Interagency
As part of a DOGE-driven effort to find ways to punish Harvard by pulling its grants from the federal govenment, Josh Gruenbaum emails Alexander Simonpour to ask if there are grants that can be revoked by NASA. The next day, Simonpour relayed the request to other NASA staffers and then followed up on May 8th stating that the White House had imposed a 5pm deadline for the information.
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| May 2025 | |
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5/08/25
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Source
Interagency
DOGE staff at NASA, GSA and the White House finalize a list of five NASA grants to be killed and discuss the language for the terminiation letters in a series of email discussions and meetings to 11pm that night. The agency sends a letter to Harvard the following day.
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5/08/25
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Source
Interagency
Jeremy Lichtman emails USDA officials to inform them that GSA (likely Josh Gruenbaum) had directed them to review several agency grants for termination. These terminations were reportedly “awaiting final greenlight from the White House.”
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5/12/25
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Source
Disruption
In a retaliation against the university coordinated by GSA, grants for Harvard University from DOD, HUD, the Department of Energy and the Department of Education are all terminated. There were 200 grants from DOD alone. The stated reasons varied but included that they no longer effectuated the administration’s priorities or directly accusing Harvard of fostering antisemitism on campus.
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5/13/25
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Source
Directory
In an overview of how DOGE has tried to assign teams outside of the executive branch, NPR lists six DOGE staffers at GSA who are involved with those efforts.
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5/23/25
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Source
Disruption
Ethan Shaotran sends a Survey of Surveys email to federal agencies asking them to report information on data-collection surveys. This is redundant to the existing survey oversight already conducted by OMB, and there are concerns about what the data will be used for.
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5/28/25
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Source
Legal
Former 18F employees file a class-action appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board stating that GSA did not provide a valid reason for eliminating the agency and the firings were acts of retaliation because of their perceived political affiliations.
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5/29/25
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Source
Offboard
Steve Davis and Nicole Hollander reportedly resign their positions and depart from the GSA and government service in the wake of Elon Musk leaving DOGE
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5/31/25
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Source
Report
Edward Coristine and Luke Farritor’s roles are both converted into regular positions at the GSA at the GS-15 level, which would mean an annual salary of $167,603 - $195,200 in Washington, DC. This is the maximum level possible for a general government worker, and it often takes years or decades to reach. It would not normally be granted to staff with such limited work experience.
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| June 2025 | |
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6/03/25
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Source
Interagency
Steve Davis walked into DOGE’s weekly meeting at the GSA, asserting he was still in charge even though he was no longer a government employee. The acting director of the GSA, Stephen Ehikian, reportedly responded “Steve Davis remains in charge until he says he’s not” to DOGE members confused by this turn of events.
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c.6/05/25
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Source
Disruption
Concerned by people questioning his continued authority, Steve Davis reportedly taps Anthony Armstrong, Josh Gruenbaum and Stephen Ehikian to assess the loyalty of DOGE staffers and assert they are the leadership of DOGE now, acting under the authority of JD Vance and Susie Wiles in the White House. This is a bluff, and staffers in the White House counter that their authority is only within GSA itself.
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6/05/25
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Source
Action
Despite having left DOGE a week prior, Steve Davis reportedly holds a meeting with DOGE staff hosted on the sixth floor of the GSA headquarters. At the meeting, he reportedly proposes a “DOGE 2.0” which would be more collaborative with agency heads.
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6/06/25
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Source
Report
Wired reports that Thomas Shedd is in need of in-house developers and is looking to revamp and restart the Presidential Innovation Fellows program months after it was eliminated due to the hiring freeze and mass layoffs initiated by Thomas Shedd.
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6/23/25
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Source
Offboard
Less than a month after he was officially hired at GSA, Edward Coristine reportedly resigns his position and is removed from the building directory.
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6/25/25
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Disruption
In a surprise move, the Republican governor of Virginia, the head of public buildings service at GSA and the Commissioner for HUD announce that they will be kicking out the National Science Foundation (NSF) from its Virginia headquarters and moving HUD to that location. There are no details provided on where NSF is expected to relocate to.
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| July 2025 | |
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7/07/25
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Source
Action
Thomas Shedd announces that after a review of 7200 websites in the federal government, GSA is recommending that 332 of those should be eliminated. These cuts are not evenly distributed (the SBA will eliminate half of its websites). This initiative dates back to 2023 OMB guidance for the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act, so this is not a DOGE-created project, but some of the websites and pages are for programs targeted by DOGE.
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7/10/25
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Source
Report
In a sign of DOGE’s apparent waning influence at the agency, the guard who used to be posted outside of the sixth-floor A suite is gone as well as the signs in the elevator listing that only authorized access is allowed for that floor.
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7/18/25
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Source
Report
In an interview with the Financial Times about his reported squeeze of government contractors, Josh Gruenbaum denies he has made unreasonable demands of many companies while going easy on Trump allies during his reviews of all government contracts overseen by the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA.
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7/21/25
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Source
Offboard
In a move that is seen as reprisal for GSA leadership’s support of Steve Davis attempt to continue running DOGE after he left, the Trump White House names Mike Rigas as the new acting administrator of GSA. This demotes Stephen Ehikian to his role as Deputy Administrator of GSA only.
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7/21/25
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Source
Directory
Multiple DOGE staff are listed in the invite for a new meeting for political appointees at the agency which will be held once every two weeks.
(fuzz: Jeremy Lewin is a Deputy Undersecretary at State, but still a GSA employee?)
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7/31/25
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Source
Report
After removing Stephen Ehikian as the acting director of GSA, the White House has reportedly detailed nine other staffers to the agency to speed a “de-Muskification” of the agency. This is possibly also related to the GSA supporting Steve Davis over the White House in his attempt to keep running DOGE even after he had left. Josh Gruenbaum is named as being in their good graces still.
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| August 2025 | |
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8/14/25
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Source
Website
GSA launches a new website usai.gov to promote new partnerships between the agency and three different AI companies. The goal is to make it easier for agencies to embed AI internally. The site features large bold fonts, big images and an email contact form, and it also is 4 pages in total. This is the project that Bee Elvy and Alison Childs were reportedly working on.
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8/22/25
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Source
Disruption
Analysis by economists at Yale reveals that DOGE’s widespread lease cancellations have had an effect on the normally stable $12 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities. In the DC area alone, researchers estimate losses of $575 million to the commercial real-estate sector over the next ten years.
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8/26/25
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Source
Directory
A report from Politico identifies three foreign nationals who are working for DOGE within the GSA. Normally, they would not be eligible for government positions but have been hired as contractors. Two are from AirBnb and one worked for X.com in prior capacities.
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| September 2025 | |
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9/03/25
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Source
Offboard
Stephen Ehikian sends an email to GSA staff announcing that he is “transitioning out” of the Deputy Administrator role after an AI startup announces that he is its new CEO. It’s unclear when his actual last date at the agency will be or how he can be working for a private entity and the GSA during this transition.
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9/19/25
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Source
Interagency
A GSA-created “ICE surge team” that was formed to rapidly lease office space for ICE to operate in various cities is reportedly struggling due to the effects of DOGE cuts – despite overwhelming work, the team is only half the size it should be due to DOGE staffing cuts and is often forced to rent back space at elevated rates from landlords who were harmed by DOGE’s lease-cancellation efforts.
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9/23/25
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Source
Disruption
GSA sends out an offer of reinstatement to hundreds of employees who managed government offices and leases and were fired by DOGE. The employees are only given until the end of the week to make their decision. This underscores recent reports that the agency is critically understaffed and unable to handle rising demand for government office space due to ICE’s expansion.
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9/25/25
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Source
Oversight
The ranking Democratic member of the Senate Comittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs releases a report “Unchecked and Unaccountable” detailing DOGE security transgressions at several agencies, including poor security for the NUMIDENT data at SSA and activities within GSA and OPM
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9/25/25
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Source
Oversight
The GSA Inspector General has included several DOGE-related projects in its list of priority audits for fiscal year 2026. These include the mass termination of leases and the destruction of 18F
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| December 2025 | |
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12/11/25
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Source
Report
Data from the General Accounting Office confirms that DOGE at GSA has carried out 260 lease terminations for government offices this year, saving about $112 million in leasing costs. This means that the agency finalized about 30% of the 900 or so leases it had initially targeted.
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c.1/10/26
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Source
Action
After GSA officials raised concerns that the xAI Grok model was a safety risk because it was too syncophantic and susceptible to manipulation, Josh Gruenbaum defends the inclusion of the company’s models into the government’s USAi site. Susie Wiles is satisfied by his explanation, but usage of the model by government agencies has been low, except in some cases where security testers have needed to simulate a bad actor.
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c.1/10/26
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Source
Action
After GSA officials raised concerns that the xAI Grok model was a safety risk because it was too syncophantic and susceptible to manipulation, Josh Gruenbaum defends the inclusion of the company’s models into the government’s USAi site. Susie Wiles is satisfied by his explanation, but usage of the model by government agencies has been low, except in some cases where security testers have needed to simulate a bad actor.
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| February 2026 | |
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2/13/26
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Source
Legal
Ruling in American Council of Learned Societies/Authors Guild v. NEH, Judge Colleen McMahon rejects an argument by the government that a spreadsheet listing all of the DOGE staff and their positions and detailing arrangement must remain sealed for their personal safety. She orders them and a series of text messages made by DOGE staffers Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox must be entered into the record by February 17th.
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2/19/26
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Source
Onboard
Federal CIO Chief Greg Barbaccia is named as the new Acting Director for the Technology Transformation Service (TTS) at GSA, replacing Thomas Shedd in the role. Shedd has seemingly been demoted to a new role of Senior Advisor for Fraud Prevention. Greg Barbaccia is still serving in the role of CIO for USAID as well.
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