A Northern Virginia man who voted for Donald Trump said he did not expect to be fired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) this week as part of the task force’s effort to reduce spending by cutting the federal workforce.
“I voted for Donald Trump. But this is not what I was expecting,” he told local outlet WTOP. “We didn’t think they were going to take a chainsaw to a silk rug.”
The man was only identified in the report as a 13-year, disabled military veteran who worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as an information technology technician for nearly two years.
On Monday, he received an email from Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton notifying him that he was being fired on performance grounds despite his exceptional performance reviews.
“The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest. For this reason, the Agency informs you that the Agency is removing you from your position,” the email said.
It continued: “Until the probationary period has been completed,” a probationer has “the burden to demonstrate why it is in the public interest for the Government to finalize an appointment to the civil service for this particular individual.”
However, the man told WTOP that he was not a “probationary” employee and that his performance at FEMA was upgraded to “career conditional.”
As for performance reviews, the man said he “was all in the range of fours, which means exceeding expectations.” Evaluations obtained by the outlet show supervisors describing him as a “leader,” and that he “performed very well and is a valuable member of the group.”
The man’s wife said while she “recognize there are a lot of cuts that need to be made, this is not the one that you think will happen to your family.”
“I encouraged him to take the job there, because he loved working for the agency, and I think it has a good mission,” she added.
The family has contacted their representatives in Congress and the union.
FEMA fired more than 200 employees recently while other agencies in the Department of Homeland Security fired another 200, according to Politico.
A DHS spokesperson claims the firings will cut roughly $50 million in personnel costs.
But, a former senior FEMA official said the firings “put a lot of really important programs on life support.”
“If you care about government efficiency, you don’t indiscriminately fire. You focus on honing your capabilities to be more efficient,” the official said.
