A team of workers from the U.S. D.O.G.E. Service developed step-by-step plans for carrying out President Donald Tr-ump's order to purge diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from the federal government — and over the next six months intend to expand that campaign dramatically, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. D.O.G.E. aims to target staffers who are not in DEI roles and employees who work in offices established by law to ensure equal rights, internal D.O.G.E. documents show.
In the coming weeks, the documents show, D.O.G.E. has planned for the Tr-ump administration to trim staff from dozens of offices across the executive branch, including those that protect employees’ civil rights and others that investigate complaints of employment discrimination in the federal workplace. Among the groups targeted are a Veterans Affairs office that works to ensure all veterans receive equal access to care and an office within Health and Human Services that provides information about the health of minority populations.
The D.O.G.E. team is also looking to place on leave, and ultimately fire, scores of government employees who do not work in DEI roles but who perform functions that D.O.G.E. determined were related to DEI, the documents show. It is unclear precisely how D.O.G.E. intends to decide whether employees’ jobs are tied to DEI. Such a strategy will push, if not violate, the law and could draw legal challenge, team members wrote in the documents.
D.O.G.E. staffers developed a three-part plan for Tr-ump's anti-DEI campaign, internal documents show. “Phase 1” marked the first day of Tr-ump's presidency, when Tr-ump signed an executive order stating that all DEI offices, positions and programs within the executive branch must be terminated within 60 days. The D.O.G.E. plan laid out how, on Inauguration Day, all federal agencies should begin placing DEI workers on paid leave and shutting down DEI websites and social media accounts. Those changes transpired almost exactly as D.O.G.E. laid out.
The nation is now in D.O.G.E.'s “Phase 2,” which is scheduled to last until Wednesday, according to the documents. In this stage, D.O.G.E. planned for the Tr-ump administration to place on leave some employees working at statutorily required offices. The administration is also supposed to cancel “DEI-focused” federal contracts and grants. And the administration is meant to identify workers across the government who hold non-DEI jobs but who can be tied to diversity initiatives through unspecified other means, according to the D.O.G.E. planning documents.
“There are DEI-focused personnel embedded throughout divisions that do not have any identifying DEI criteria in their name,” one document states. “Phase 2/3 will be focused on identifying these employees and putting them on administrative leave.”
D.O.G.E's “Phase 3” starts later this month, on the 31st day of the administration, and lasts until the 180th day, which is in mid-July, according to the documents. That stage moves from placing workers on paid leave to calling for large-scale firings, the documents show. Ultimately, D.O.G.E. intends for the Tr-ump administration to terminate all DEI-linked employees via a Reduction In Force (RIF) action — the federal form of layoffs — including some who work for legally mandated offices.
Goals for Phase 3 are listed in brief bullet points in the D.O.G.E. document.
“RIF the Phase 1 offices in their entirety,” one bullet point reads, referring to offices dedicated to DEI. That process is already underway: The Office of Personnel Management last month directed agencies to submit written plans for firing all DEI office workers and encouraged agencies to begin issuing termination notices immediately.
A second bullet point states: “RIF the Phase 2 offices’ corrupted branches,” referring to what D.O.G.E has determined are DEI elements of offices required by law. The bullet point concludes: “We are exploring options for this.”
GIFT LINK TO FULL STORY HERE: https://wapo.st/4jVWqEd. GIFT LINK TO A VISUAL STORY THAT LETS YOU EXAMINE D.O.G.E.'s DOCUMENTS HERE: https://wapo.st/3X57JjB. If you have D.O.G.E. stories or tips or have been affected by D.O.G.E., reach out: Hannah Natanson on Signal at (202) 580-5477 or hannah.natanson@washpost.com.
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