When President-elect Donald Trump he said Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would recommend major cuts to his administration to the federal government, many public employees knew their jobs could be at risk.
Now they have a new fear: becoming the personal targets of the richest man in the world – and his legions of followers.
Last week, amid a flurry of his daily messages, Musk retweeted two X posts that revealed the names and titles of people who hold four relatively obscure climate-related government positions.
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Each post was viewed tens of millions of times, and the named individuals were exposed to a barrage of negative attention. At least one of the four women listed has deleted their social media accounts.
Although the information he has posted about these government positions is available through public online databases, these posts are directed at otherwise unknown government officials in roles that do not have direct contact with the public.
Several current federal employees told CNN that they fear their lives will be forever changed — including being physically threatened — as Musk makes personal targets of bureaucrats behind the scenes.
Others told CNN that the threat of being in Musk’s crosshairs could even drive them out of business altogether — pursuing Musk’s smaller government goals without any proper review.
“The goal of this tactic is to instill terror and fear among federal employees,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 800,000 of the 2.3 million civilian federal employees.
“The intention is to make them afraid to speak up.”
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This is not new behavior for Musk, who has often singled out individuals he claims have made mistakes or stood in his way. One former federal employee, who was previously targeted by Musk, said she experienced something very similar.
“It’s his way of scaring people into quitting or sending a signal to all the other agencies that ‘you’re next,'” said Mary “Missy” Cummings, a professor of engineering and computer science at George Mason University, who drew Musk furious at her criticism. Tesla while she was in the National Road Traffic Safety Administration.
Darkness after the attack
Last week, Musk reposted an account tagged Fentasyl and named “Datahazard,” which describes itself as an “Unincorporated Think Tank ~~ Focus: Govt Efficiency, Civil Rights, Victim Advocacy.”
One post reads: “I don’t think US taxpayers should pay for the hiring of ‘Director of Climate Diversification (her/she)’ at the US International Finance Corporation for Development,” with a partial screenshot of the employee and her position.
Musk, who called himself a “climate super pro” in an X post last year, reposted and commented: “So many bogus jobs.”
The post had more than 33 million views and a storm of negative comments. Some called the role a “fraud job,” and others demanded that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency end such jobs. One user commented, “Gravy train is over.”
The woman Musk targeted appears to have since gone dark on social media and shut down her accounts.
The agency, the US International Development Finance Corporation, says it supports investments in climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation in low-income countries experiencing the most devastating effects of climate change. A DFC official said the agency does not comment on individual jobs or issues.
Musk also called out the Energy Department’s chief climate officer in his Office of Credit Programs.
The office funds new energy technologies that need early investment and awarded $465 million to Tesla Motors in 2010, helping position Musk’s electric vehicle company as a leader in the electric vehicle industry.
The chief climate officer works across agencies to “reduce barriers and enable the deployment of clean energy,” according to her online bio.
Another woman, who works as a senior adviser for environmental justice and climate change at the Department of Health and Human Services, was another target of Musk.
HHS focuses on protecting public health from pollution and other environmental hazards, particularly in low-income communities and communities of color that experience greater exposures and impacts. The office was first launched in Health and Human Services under the 2022 Biden administration.
The Senior Climate Advisor at the Department of Housing and Urban Development was also highlighted.
The original X post said the woman “should not be paid $181,648.00 by American taxpayers to be a ‘climate advisor’ to HUD.” Musk reposted with the comment: “But maybe her advice is amazing.” This is followed by two smiling emojis.
CNN reached out to all four federal employees, who either declined to comment or were unavailable. CNN has also reached out to HHS, DOE and HUD for comment.
X did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Public union AFGE noted that as a federal contractor, Musk benefited from government programs, with $750 billion ($1.15 trillion) a year spent on federal contractors compared with about $200 billion ($308 billion) for the civilian federal workforce. .
“We’re a comparative steal and we want to help solve that,” Kelley said.
Putting people in danger
Musk has done this sort of thing before – and it has led to real danger for named people.
Missy Cummings angered Musk when she was named a senior adviser at NHTSA because her research and public comments were critical of Tesla’s driver assistance programs and she called for regulation of the system.
Musk took aim at Cummings on what was then called Twitter, and legions of his fans followed suit.
In an interview, Cummings said she received a barrage of attacks, including death threats, and had to move temporarily before finally moving.
Cummings said she already knows of federal employees who have “dedicated their lives to public service,” already quitting their jobs in anticipation of what’s to come.
“He intended for them, exactly these people, to be intimidated and quit so he wouldn’t have to fire them. So his plan, to a certain extent, is working,” she said.
CNN spoke to a number of experts and academics who specialize in online harassment, doxing and online bullying. But several of them refused to comment on the record for fear of becoming Musk’s targets.
“What happened has an incredible and terrible chilling effect,” one of them said.
Another said they were “not surprised” by Musk’s retweets, adding that they were an example of a “classic pattern” of cyber harassment.
Ramaswamy did not directly respond to questions about singling out individual federal employees, but told CNN, “Most federal employees, like most human beings, are fundamentally good people and deserve to be treated with respect, but the real problem is the bureaucracy. “
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In a subsequent post, the Fentasyl account, which is itself anonymous, wrote: “It goes without saying that you shouldn’t harass someone just because they have a high government job that probably shouldn’t exist,” the account said.
“But senior government officials are not just ordinary employees. We deserve to know who runs our government and what they do.”
Cummings, who was also one of the first female fighter pilots in the US Navy, said she felt an obligation to speak out.
“Someone has to speak up,” she said. “I’m just not going to let him win at this point.”
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